page_title: Prora
section_title: Plans
hierarchical_section_title: Prora / Plans
caption_attribution_description: English: Typical room in the south part 3 of the KDF building in Prora Deutsch: Typischer Raum in Südflügel 3 des KDF Komplexes Prora, Zustand November 2010
context_page_description: Prora, also known as the Colossus of Prora, is a building complex on the island of Rügen, Germany, that was built by Nazi Germany between 1936 and 1939 as a beach resort of the Strength Through Joy project. It consisted of eight identical buildings and was 4.5 km in length parallel to the beach, with the surviving structures stretching 3.0 km.
  Although the buildings were planned as a holiday resort, construction was not completed and they were not used for this purpose. After World War II, the complex found various military uses, first by the Soviet Army, then by the East German Volksarmee, and then by the German Bundeswehr. Today it houses a large youth hostel, a hotel and vacation apartments.
  The complex has a formal heritage listing as a particularly striking example of Third Reich architecture.
context_section_description: The Strength Through Joy program was designed to attract the working class – who had during the Weimar Republic been the power base of the Social Democrats and, to a lesser extent, the Communists – to the Nazi Party by offering numerous cultural events and mass tourism at affordable prices.  They also presented an opportunity for the inculcation of Nazi ideology through constant indoctrination by propaganda. Founded in November 1933, in the year 1934, 400,000 people took Strength Through Joy package tours, a number which rose to 1.7 million by 1937, not to mention 7 million who availed themselves of weekend excursions and 1.6 million who participated in organized hikes.
  Robert Ley, head of the German Labour Front – of which Strength Through Joy was a subsidiary – envisioned Prora as a parallel to Butlins, which were British "holiday camps" designed to provide affordable holidays for the average worker. Prora was designed to house 20,000 holidaymakers, under the ideal that every worker deserved a holiday at the beach. Designed by Clemens Klotz, who won a design competition overseen by Adolf Hitler's chief architect Albert Speer, all rooms were planned to overlook the sea, while corridors and sanitation are located on the landward side. Each room of 5 metres (16 ft) by 2.5 metres (8.2 ft) was to have two beds, a wardrobe and a sink. There were communal toilets, showers and bathrooms on each floor.
  Hitler's plans for Prora were much more ambitious. He wanted a gigantic sea resort, the "most mighty and large one to ever have existed", holding 20,000 beds. In the middle, a huge building was to be erected. At the same time, Hitler wanted it to be convertible into a military hospital in case of war. Hitler insisted that the plans of a giant indoor arena by architect Erich Putlitz be included. Putlitz's Festival Hall was intended to be able to accommodate all 20,000 guests at the same time. His plans included two wave-swimming pools, a cinema and a theatre. A large dock for passenger ships was also planned.
  The designs won a Grand Prix award at the 1937 Paris World Exposition.
caption: Typical room (December 2010)
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