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KdF Resort
Complex at Seebad Prora
Among the most ambitious
of the Third Reich construction projects were five planned seaside resort
complexes for the Kraft durch Freude (KdF - Strength Through
Joy) workers association, part of the Deutsche Arbeits Front
(DAF) under the leadership of Dr. Robert Ley. In conjunction with KdF cruise ships, these seaside
resorts were meant to provide affordable vacations for the average German
worker. Although five such resorts were planned, only one was ever started, on
the east coast of the Baltic Sea island of Rügen, along the beach at Prora.
Construction began in May 1936, and the Prora resort had reached various stages
of construction when World War II started in 1939. Completion had originally
been planned for 1941, but the complex was never finished. In spite of this, the
Prora resort complex was the largest construction project of the Third Reich
that reached this level of completion, and the site remains the largest Third
Reich building in existence.
The Prora resort was planned to
consist of two complexes - North and South - each consisting of four blocks of
ten housing units each, providing rooms for 20,000 vacationers. Every room had a
view of the sea. Between the two complexes would have been administration
buildings and a large open festival square with an assembly hall at one end. The housing
sections were joined by community buildings and swimming halls. The complex
included plans for several restaurants, cinemas, sport halls, and other
entertainment sites, as well as housing for workers, a rail station, and other
necessary infrastructure (water works, electrical substation, post office, etc.). When completed,
the complex would have stretched along the beach for almost five kilometers. A
large quay was built at the seaside in the center of the complex, with moorings
for the KdF cruise ships "Robert Ley" and "Wilhelm
Gustloff."
Need for construction materials for
the war effort halted construction on the Prora resort, and it never actually
functioned as such, although refugees from the bombing of Hamburg and other
cities lived in the most-finished buildings in 1944-45. During the war the
complex was also used as a training site for police and female signals
auxiliaries, and as a military hospital. After the war the buildings were
occupied by the Soviet military for a time, and then stripped of useable
materials. In the late 1940s two of the housing blocks - one on the North and
one on the South - were demolished and the remains mostly removed. The East German Army
used the complex from about 1950 to 1991. During this period the Number 4 block
on the north side was apparently used for urban combat training, and large
sections were blown up (these remain as ruins today). However, in the 1950s the
East German military rebuilt several of the buildings to house soldiers, and
later as a resort for officers. Since the buildings had been stripped to the
bare brick in the latter 1940s, most of the exterior and interior finish that
can be seen today was done under East German control.
In common with many other Third Reich
buildings returned to the German government in the 1990s after years of military
use, the Prora complex has had a rocky recent history. Some have wanted to tear
it down completely, while others wish to preserve it. Several symposia have
convened in the local area to decide the fate of the "Colossus of
Rügen," and various parts of the complex have been used as a youth hostel,
dance club, restaurant, and museums. In 2005 part of the museum complex was sold to a
private concern, and their eventual plans for this part remain largely unknown.
Since 2000 the site has been curated by a local preservation group, who maintain
a Documentation Center and give guided tours (www.proradok.de).
(MapQuest Map
Link)
Click here
to see another Third Reich site on Rügen, at Saßnitz.
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| The
artist's conception on the left shows one planned configuration; the
architectural model on the right shows the final planned state, as
designed by architect Clemens Klotz. These views highlight the ten
Community Buildings (Gemeinschaftshäuser) that separated the housing blocks and jutted out
onto the beach. (left
- artist's concept from 1938, right - architectural model from "Bauten
der Bewegung," Vol. 1, 1938) |
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| The artist's concept
above shows the festival square and the assembly hall, which was never
started. Visitors arrived by ship at the quay and proceeded to one of
two reception halls (colonnade in the center distance) to be assigned to rooms.
The complex was so large that a miniature railway would have carried
vacationers to the more distant housing blocks. The drawing below
shows a closer view of one of the columned reception halls (center) with
a Community House on the left. (Herbert Hoffmann,
"Deutschland baut," Stuttgart, 1938) |
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| One of
the Community Houses as it appeared during construction in 1939, and the
same building today. This is the landside part of the building in the
South complex - this would have housed a cafe and cabaret. At the
distance in the left of the period photo can be seen the columns of the
incomplete reception building. (Archiv Prora
Dokumentationszentrum) |
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| The
incomplete Pfeiler
Halle (Colonnade) of the South complex reception center as it
appears today. |
The Pfeilerhalle columns were all
square in cross-section, except for the two
in the center which were round, and had Egyptian-style lotus bud capitals.
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| One of
the main housing blocks under construction in 1939, and as it appears
today. All of the guest rooms faced the sea, with hallways and
stairwells on the land side. (Archiv Prora
Dokumentationszentrum) |
The complex under construction, about 1937. (Bundesarchiv)
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| Two
views of the Prora complex from the "Deutsche Wochenschau"
weekly newsreel, from about 1941. The North complex is on the left -
note the three foundations for Community Houses jutting out onto the
beach. |
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The extensions on the land side
of the housing blocks contained stairwells and elevators.
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Only four of the ten planned
seaside Community Buildings were started, and none progressed beyond the
foundation stage. The buildings were to be protected from the sea by
stone-clad concrete walls surrounding them back to an earthen sea wall.
On the left is a view of the concrete foundation of a Community
Building, with a view of its stone-clad outer wall on the right.
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| On the
left is a period view of one of the Community House foundations under
construction (looking from the sea side back toward the main buildings).
On the right is a similar modern aspect, but taken closer in (standing
on the outer sea wall). (Archiv Prora
Dokumentationszentrum) |
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On the left, the low building
running between the housing blocks and stretching across the path would
have been a sport and swimming hall. A Community Building would have
jutted out onto the beach (toward the right) from here. On the right is
a view of some of the buildings of the North complex that were never
refinished by the East Germans. This would have been the general state
of the entire complex in 1945.
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| This
drawing shows the large quay at the seaside in the center of the
complex. A seawall promenade divided the beach from the housing blocks,
with access to the beach either from steps along the quay or via the
Community Houses. Below are two modern views of the ruins of the
quay. (Herbert
Hoffmann, "Deutschland baut," Stuttgart, 1938); courtesy Mats Damberg (lower right) |
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The ruin seen on the left is all that
remains of
the Number 3 housing block of the North complex. The ruined section on
the right is part of the Number 4 block on the North.
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The Number 4 housing block of
the North complex is in various states of ruin, having apparently been
used as a military training site. These views show the construction
details of the stairwells.
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Further views of the damaged and
collapsed stairwells of the North complex Block 4.
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| Two
other relics remain of the KdF Seebad Prora - this sculpture of a man
riding a bull was designed as decoration for the Prora complex, but was
never installed. The work was designed by sculptor Willy Meller (who
also had works at the Berlin Olympia Stadion,
Ordensburg
Vogelsang, and Erwitte) and
executed by Wilhelm Ax, at the stoneworks in Ochsenfurt,
Bavaria. A companion work of a woman riding a horse never reached this
stage of completion - only the head was finished. These two figures were designed to be installed in
the central pool of the festival square, as if they were rising
up out of the water, hence the lack of finished back legs. When World War II brought a
halt to construction at Prora, the bull rider sculpture was left in
Ochsenfurt. In the 1950s it was assembled in a park at the north end of
the new bridge over the Main River. The woman's head remains outside the
Kraemer and Hofmann stoneworks in Ochsenfurt. (Google
Maps link) |
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