Aerial view taken in 2000 of the 4.5 Km-long so-called "colossus of Ruegen" complex in Prora, Germany. Ruins from the massive vacation resort built by the Nazis were sold at auction to an anonymous buyer for 768,000 USD(AFP/DDP/File)
Posted on 09/23/2004 2:44:00 PM PDT by martin_fierro
Ruins from giant Nazi beach resort sold in Germany
Thu Sep 23, 1:11 PM ET
ROSTOCK, Germany (AFP) - Ruins from a massive vacation resort built by the Nazis on the Baltic island Ruegen were sold at auction to an anonymous buyer for 625,000 euros (768,000 dollars).
The concrete-block lodgings, built in the 1930s to accommodate some 20,000 people under the Nazis' Kraft Durch Freude (Strength Through Joy) leisure program, stretches 4.5 kilometers (2.8 miles) along one of Germany's most beautiful sandy beaches.
The federal government had been trying to unload the structure, known as the Colossus of the Baltic and classified as a historical monument, since 1992.
The crumbling section finally sold Thursday went to a telephone bidder. A representative of the buyer who attended the auction in the northern city of Rostock declined to comment.
The building is alongside the Nuremberg party rally grounds, the most imposing architectural relic of the Third Reich. But because of its size and state of disrepair, it had been a hard sell in the post-reunification years.
It was not immediately clear what the buyer would be able to do with the white elephant, which is protected by strict environmental and historical regulations.
Kai Rocholl, director of the Norddeutsche Grundstuecksauktionen auction house, said the organizers had received requests for information from around the world and firm offers from buyers in Switzerland and Greece.
Aerial view taken in 2000 of the 4.5 Km-long so-called "colossus of Ruegen" complex in Prora, Germany. Ruins from the massive vacation resort built by the Nazis were sold at auction to an anonymous buyer for 768,000 USD(AFP/DDP/File)
Ich bin ein suntanner.
Der Volks Vakationsplatz
Drei Klimaten: Juli, August und Winter.
At that price it was a steal....
That's less than the house down the block in my neighborhood is going for.
At one time, it was operated as the world's longest hotel. Loooong walk to the breakfast buffet.
It may be somewhat run down, but I wouldn't describe the buildings pictured as being "ruins". It's got a roof, windows, reasonably well kept landscaping...
Add a couple dozen construction cranes and it looks like Moscow circa 1987.
As pointed out in the book, "The Psychopathic God", the Franz von Stuck painting "The Wild Chase" was painted the year of Hitler's birth, and Hitler quite literally modeled his look on the character in the painting, from the mustache and hair style, even down to the cape which he wore early in his political ascendancy (I believe he wears it during the Nuremburg rally featured in "Triumph of the Will").
'screepy.
http://www.illusionsgallery.com/wild-chase.html
Based on German reports...no significant renovation since being built...so thats why the price was so low. You can anticipate the cost of renovation being in the tens of millions of dollars. The negative side is that summer barely last six weeks up in the Baltic area...maybe 12 if you are aren't picky about weather. Its hard to say if this guy can ever turn this into a profit-type hotel.
An interesting note...there are 1000s of structures (not quiet as grand as this one)...that lay abandoned in Germany. From old hunting lodges, to old train stations, to old businesses. The German rail system probably has over 500 structures just sitting there...with no one interested. Face it...who wants a old train station?
In populated portions of the US, you would have no problem finding someone who would want to adaptively re-use. Part of the problem there would have to be restrictive, inflexible government regulation.
Hitlers Seebad Prora ist heute ein Museum
Prora is a complex of eight identical, six-storey blocks which has stood for 70 years along the beachfront on the Baltic island of Rugen. Originally, it was conceived as a Nazi holiday camp that would provide morale-strengthening breaks to refresh German workers for their Aryan duties.
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Gotta be ‘shopped, but I love it. :’)
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