Hitler’s holiday resort brought back to life

It looks like a modern, if slightly regimented, holiday development with its swimming pool and balconies.

But the Prora building complex on Ruegen Island in Binz, Germany has a rather more sinister past. Prora was originally commissioned by Adolf Hitler as a massive, 4.5kmlong beach holiday resort for German workers under a programme called Strength through Joy.

The original plans called for a festival hall to hold 20,000 people and rooms located in eight, 450 metre-long blocks to accommodate 20,000 guests, with each room facing the sea.

Construction halted in 1939 and after the Second World War the complex housed Soviet soldiers, then East German Army units before the German government, having assumed administration after 1989, sold the five existing blocks to private investors. Today Prora is a massive real estate development, with some parts still in ruins while others include a hotel, holiday apartments, museum and youth hostel.