The Controversial Heritage of the Early Nazi built Mass Tourism Resort at Pa in East Germany

As a manifestation of the Third Reich’s tourism and leisure policy, one of the World’s first mass tourism resorts was developed between 1936 and 1939 on the Island of Rügen at the shores of the Baltic Sea. Executed by the Nazi Organisation “ Kraft durch Freude” (KdF) (“Strength Through Joy”), a 4.5 kilometre-long concrete hotel complex with more than 6,000 rooms was built close to the sea-side resort of Prora with the objective of offering cheap package holidays for up to 20,000 people at a time. The design won an award at the 1937 Paris World Exhibition for the idea of promoting mass tourism and its then modern architecture of steel-reinforced concrete, intended to withstand the rough sea climate. The project testifies to Hitler’s megalomania. The hotel complex was to have two piers big enough for ocean liners, swimming pools and solarium halls, shops and related infrastructure such as schools, water and power stations. Due to the outbreak of the Second World War, the complex was newer fully completed. During as well as after the War the set of buildings was used by refugees and later by the Soviet and East German military. Following Germany’s re-unification in 1990, repeated attempts were made to privatise the building complex, which is protected by the German “historic monument code”. Today, only a fraction of the complex is being used for a small museum and since July 2011 as one of Germany’s largest youth hotel. The youth hostel project is controversial due to the buildings past, with critics saying that such an architectural monstrosity with its dubious history is the last place where people should be spending their holidays.