Prora

Prora was a Seaside resort Nazi on the island Rügen, in Germany. The massive concrete complex was built between 1936 and 1939 by the organization of leisures Kraft durch Freude (KdF, in French “the force by the joy”). The eight buildings are identical, and although they were considered like holiday place, they were never employed as tel. It is an example of the claim of the Nazis to also dominate architecture.

Prora is located on a broad bay between the areas of Sassnitz and Binz, close to Prorer Wiek, on the covered narrow tape of heather (called the Prora ) which separates the Jasmunder Bodden from the the Baltic. The buildings extend on more than 4,5 kilometers and are to approximately 150 m of the beach. The coast offers a long beach punt of sand, which extends from Binz to the port of the ferries ( Fährhafen ). This beach was thus an ideal place to set up a building in seaside there.

History

Prora was conceived to place 20.000 holiday makers, the ideal concerned being that each worker can spend the holidays to the beach. Drawn by Clemens Klotz (1886 - 1969), each room was to give on the ocean. Later plans envisaged two swimming pools, a theater, a cinema, and a room of festival of 25.000 sitted places. A broad transporting quay for boats of the passengers was also envisaged.

With the World Fair of Paris in 1937, the whole of the plans for Prora accepted the Grand Prix of Architecture.

Each room of 5 meters out of 2,5 was to count two beds, a cupboard or a wall cupboard, and a sink. The toilets and showers were common.

During the first years of construction, of 1936 to 1939, almost all the important companies of construction of the Reich were implied in a way or another. Nearly 9000 workmen worked there.

The beginning of the Second world war in 1939 stopped work. The eight blocks of dwelling, the theater and the cinema remained empty shells, while the swimming pools and the theater were not built yet. The bombardments Alliés pushed many inhabitants of Hamburg to find refuge with Prora. At the end of the war, the buildings were used as housing with the Luftwaffe.

In 1945 the Red Army took the control of the area and establishes a base with Prora.

External bonds

photo Gallery of Prora

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