Binz is the largest seaside resort city on the German island of Rügen .
66-504: 54°26′21″N 13°34′32″E / 54.43917°N 13.57556°E / 54.43917; 13.57556 The Colossus of Prora , commonly known as simply " Prora ", is a building complex in the municipality of Binz on the island of Rügen , Germany . It was built by Nazi Germany between 1936 and 1939 as part of the Strength Through Joy (Kraft durch Freude or KdF) project. It consisted of eight identical buildings and
132-572: A bathing resort , which meant that building took off: the beach promenade, the pier, the spa house ( Kurhaus ), a new network of paths and a narrow-gauge railway connection were built. Around 1870, 80 bathers were counted in one year. No large hotels were built in Binz and other resorts on the Baltic coast in the late 19th century; instead lodging houses in a villa style were built in a style known as resort architecture . They were given names associated with
198-502: A "Caribbean beach". However, the decision met with some skepticism from Binz locals, who felt that there were already too many tourists in the region, and Heike Tagsold, a Prora historian, who said that the town's past made it an inappropriate location for tourists. Nevertheless, in 2011 the long-planned large youth hostel with 402 beds in 96 rooms opened; it is the largest youth hostel in Germany and has been popular. A possible expansion of
264-545: A restored sense of national pride. At night, the pavilion was illuminated by floodlights. Josef Thorak 's sculpture Comradeship stood outside the pavilion, depicting two enormous nude males, clasping hands and standing defiantly side by side, in a pose of mutual defense and "racial camaraderie". Television was shown as a novelty in German pavilion. The architect of the Soviet pavilion was Boris Iofan . Vera Mukhina designed
330-431: A sort of collage - with small, open, cubic pavilions together with two larger exhibition halls. The entire complex curved around a shady garden with Japanese touches. The pavilion was also an advertisement for Finland's prime export, wood, as the building was built entirely of timber. French architecture historian Fabienne Chevallier has argued that at the time French critics were baffled by Aalto's building because though it
396-461: A tax collection document for the County of Streu ( Grafschaft Streu ). The heart of the 250pxsettlement was the middle of the present Bahnhofstraße and Rabenstraße . In addition there were the farmsteads of Granitz-Hof and Aalbeck. The church village and centre of the parish was Zirkow . A first sign of its subsequent importance as a Baltic Sea resort arose as early as around 1830, when guests of
462-642: A workhouse for juvenile delinquents, located in the planned holiday resort. Binz It is situated between the bay of Prorer Wiek and the Schmachter See (a lake) in the southeast of the island. To the north of Binz stretches the Schmale Heide (the "narrow heath"), a tongue of land which joins the Muttland region of Rügen to the Jasmund peninsula. The land to the south and east of Binz
528-647: Is also linked to the nearby towns of Putbus, Sellin , Baabe and Göhren by the narrow gauge steam railway the Rügensche Bäderbahn, known locally as Rasender Roland . Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne The Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne (International Exposition of Art and Technology in Modern Life) was held from 25 May to 25 November 1937 in Paris , France . Both
594-471: Is hilly, reaching a height of over 100 metres above sea level. Binz is known for its well-kept historical resort architecture and natural scenery, close to the Jasmund National Park and its chalk cliffs. Binz lies on the eastern coast of the island of Rügen between the bay of Prorer Wiek and the lake of Schmachter See . North of Binz is the Schmale Heide , a neck of land that links
660-658: The Kurhaus Binz and went bust in 1891. In 1892 Binz was elevated to the status of an independent rural municipality. Around 1896, the Bräunlich shipping company linked the settlements of Stettin, Binz and Sassnitz. This was followed by a building boom. In 1893 the first spa house and the Kaiserhof were built. In 1895, the construction of the Rügen Light Railway from Putbus to Binz followed, as well as
726-553: The Zeitgeist : nationalistic names like "Germania" or names of family members – often the first name of the wife of the builder. In 1876, the first hotel was built. In 1880, Wilhelm Klünder had the first hotel near the beach built: the appropriately named Strandhotel . In 1888, the Binz Baltic Sea Resort Company ( Aktiengesellschaft Ostseebad Binz ) was founded, which in 1890 opened the first spa house,
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#1732775460712792-554: The Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne , saying he very much wanted Canada to have a pavilion. King hesitated, saying he did not know if his government could afford the cost of building a pavilion, but Brugère forced his hand by sending a telegram to Paris, saying that Canada would take part, leading to an announcement being made in Paris. Fitting in the architectural master-plan of
858-473: The Muttland – Rügen's central region – with the peninsula of Jasmund . East and south of the municipality, the land is rolling, in the southeast, in the Granitz , the land climbs to just over 100 m above sea level (NN) . The resort of Prora belongs to Binz. The annual precipitation is 611 mm and is relatively low, falling within the lowest quarter of values within Germany. At 23% of
924-594: The Palais de Chaillot , housing the Musée de l'Homme , and the Palais de Tokyo , which houses the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris , were created for this exhibition that was officially sanctioned by the Bureau International des Expositions . A third building, Palais d'Iéna [ fr ] , housing the permanent Museum of Public Works, which was originally to be among the new museums created on
990-533: The Prussian Province of Pomerania . From 1818 to 4 September 2011 Binz belonged, apart from a short interruption (1952–1955 Kreis Putbus ) to the county of Rügen . Around 1875, bathing in the sea came into vogue. The first guests arrived in the small town of Binz, took a liking to it, and recommended it to others. That same year the first road was built connecting the village to the beach ( Putbuser Straße ). Ten years later, Binz officially became
1056-627: The East German Army's " Walter Ulbricht " convalescent home. After German reunification in 1990, the National People's Army was absorbed into the West German Bundeswehr , that took over the building. Initially, consideration was given to demolishing the buildings, but it was later given landmark protection and a tax break offered to developers to renovate it. Parts of the building were used from 1990 to 1992 by
1122-522: The FDGB. Between the 1950s and 1985 estates of flats typical of the GDR ( Plattenbau ) were built both to the north and west of the town. Following the reunification of Germany , Binz underwent substantial change. Many of the villas were returned to their previous owners, and the town was restored and modernised. The former FDGB holiday centres were privatised and renovated. In 1994, a new pier, 370 metres long,
1188-403: The German pavilion. Speer later revealed in his autobiographies that having had a clandestine look at the plans for the Soviet pavilion, he designed the German pavilion to represent a bulwark against Communism . The preparation and construction of the exhibits were plagued by delay. On the opening day of the exhibition, only the German and the Soviet pavilions had been completed. This, as well as
1254-600: The Military Technical School of the Bundeswehr. From 1992 to 1994 a part of the building was used to house asylum seekers from the Balkans. Beginning in early 1993, the facility was empty and the buildings were subject to decay and vandalism. An exception to this was Block 3, Prora Center, which from 1995 to 2005 housed a variety of museums, special exhibitions, and a gallery. Between 1993 and 1999
1320-839: The Prince of Putbus bathed at the mouth of the Ahlbeck (the outflow of the Schmachter See). In 1835 a one-classroom school was established. Around 1850 Binz farmers purchased the land hitherto rented to them by the Prince of Putbus. Until 1326 the village was part of the Principality of Rügen and thereafter of the Duchy of Pomerania . With the Treaty of Westphalia of 1648 Rügen, and hence Binz, became part of Swedish Pomerania . In 1815 Binz became part of New Western Pomerania within
1386-426: The average worker. Prora was designed to house 20,000 holidaymakers, under the idea 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)
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#17327754607121452-571: The building. In the late 1940s two of the housing blocks – one at the North and one at the South ;– were demolished and the remains were mostly removed. In the late 1950s, the East German military rebuilt several of the buildings. Since the buildings had been stripped to the bare brick in the late 1940s, most of the exterior and interior finish that can now be seen
1518-474: The buildings into shops and apartments. However, Block 1 was re-offered for sale at an auction on 31 March 2012 and was purchased by a Berlin investor for €2.75 million. In November 2006, the Federal Agency for Real Estate purchased Block 5. With financial support from the federal government and the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern it planned to establish a youth hostel in the building. Located in
1584-538: The buildings were in the process of redevelopment, a fifth was used as a youth hostel while the remaining three remained in ruins. A November 2017 update indicated that most of the units (flats) in Block 1 had been sold, having been marketed as summer homes for those who live in Hamburg and Berlin. Many were listed by owners as short term rentals. Prora was featured in the video game Civilization V , specifically within
1650-812: The complex likened by the party to that of themselves. 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 holiday apartments. Prora lies on an extensive bay between the Sassnitz and Binz regions, known as the Prorer Wiek , on the narrow heath (the Prora ) which separates
1716-399: The complex to have the ability to be converted into a military hospital in case of war. Hitler insisted that the plans of a giant indoor arena by architect Erich zu Putlitz were to 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
1782-400: The exhibits with a symphony of green grass and green-glazed tiles set against red flowers and burgundy porphyry. The Hall of Honour was the pavilion's most dramatic and evocative space. It also 'repurposed' an existing artwork: Mario Sironi 's Corporative Italy (Fascist Work) mosaic from the 1936 Triennale that had now been completed with numerous figures engaged in different types of work and
1848-425: The expansion pack Civilization V: Brave New World . It appears in the game as a world wonder associated with the ideology of Autocracy. It was the setting of the 2012 short film Prora . Prora is the setting for the first and fifth of the series of crime novels by David Young set in pre-unification East Germany : Stasi Child (2016) and Stasi Winter (2020). Both stories feature a fictional Jugendwerkhof ,
1914-416: The facility aimed toward budget-minded tourists has been proposed. In September 2010, plans were announced by a German-Austrian investor group to renovate blocks 1 and 2 as housing for the elderly and a hotel with 300 beds that includes tennis courts, and swimming pool, and a small shopping centre. The investment costs are estimated at €100 million. In 2013, a German company, Metropole Marketing, bought
1980-451: The fact that the two pavilions faced each other, turned the exhibition into a competition between the two great ideological rivals. Speer's pavilion was culminated by a tall tower crowned with the symbols of the Nazi state: an eagle and the swastika . The pavilion was conceived as a monument to "German pride and achievement". It was to broadcast to the world that a new and powerful Germany had
2046-620: The figure of the imperial Roman eagle flying in from the right hand side. The 8m x 12 m work towered over the two-storey height space that occupied the top of the pavilion's tower, making it the centre piece of the pavilion's decorative and propaganda program. The enthroned figure of Italy represented corporatism, the economic policy of Italian fascism. The room was a celebration of all those aspects of Fascist society that Pagano wholeheartedly believed in: social harmony, government input to generate industrial innovation and support for artists, professionals and craftsmen as well as workers. Here Pagano had
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2112-536: The hill of Chaillot on the occasion of the Exhibition, was not built until January 1937 and inaugurated in March 1939. At first the centerpiece of the exposition was to be a 2,300-foot (700 m) tower (" Phare du Monde ") which was to have a spiraling road to a parking garage located at the top and a hotel and restaurant located above that. The idea was abandoned as it was far too expensive. The Finnish pavilion
2178-584: The history of technology. Arturo Martini 's Victory of the Air presided over the space, her dark bronze form standing out against a seemingly infinite backdrop of blue-grey Venetian mosaic tiles. From there visitors could visit the Colonial Exhibits by Mario Sironi and the Gallery of Tourism before enjoying a plate of real spaghetti on the restaurant terrace. The courtyard garden was designed a respite from
2244-475: The housing blocks, and later refugees from the east of Germany were housed there. By the end of the war, these buildings housed female auxiliary personnel for the Luftwaffe . In 1945 the Soviet Army took control of the region and established a military base at Prora. The Soviet Army's 2nd Artillery Brigade occupied block 5 of Prora from 1945 to 1955. The Soviet military then stripped all usable materials from
2310-620: The joy of working alongside five different artists and placing Italy's newest industrial material such as linoleum and Termolux (shatterproof plate glass) next to a sumptuous chandelier from Murano and amber marble. Britain had not been expecting such a competitive exposition, and its planned budget was only a small fraction of Germany's. Frank Pick , the chairman of the Council for Art and Industry, appointed Oliver Hill as architect but told him to avoid modernism and to focus on traditional crafts. The main architectural element of Hill's pavilion
2376-554: The lagoon of the Kleiner Jasmunder Bodden from the Baltic Sea . The buildings extended over a length of 4.5 kilometres (2.8 mi) and are roughly 150 metres (160 yd) from the beach. The coast offers a long flat sand beach which stretches from Binz to the ferry port. This beach was thus an ideal location for the establishment of a seaside resort. The Strength Through Joy program was designed to attract
2442-526: The large figurative sculpture on the pavilion. The grand building was topped by Worker and Kolkhoz Woman , a large momentum-exerting statue, of a male worker and a female peasant, their hands together, thrusting a hammer and a sickle. The statue was meant to symbolize the union of workers and peasants. Italy was vying for attention between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union who presented themselves as great (and opposing) forces to be reckoned with. Italy
2508-572: The master architect Jacques Gréber at the foot of the Eiffel Tower , and inspired by the shape of a grain elevator , the Canadian pavilion included Joseph-Émile Brunet 's 28-foot sculpture of a buffalo (1937), and Charles Comfort 's The Romance of Nickel . Paintings by Brunet, sculpted panels on the outside of the structure, and several thematic stands inside the Canadian pavilion depicted aspects of Canadian culture. The Norwegian pavilion
2574-626: The necessary funding. Finally Le Corbusier was offered a budget of 500,000 FF with which he built a canvas pavilion filled with didacitic material promoting his utopian vision of future urbanism. After the Paris exhibition closed, Worker and Kolkhoz Woman was moved to the entrance of the All-Russia Exhibition Centre in Moscow, where it stood on a high platform. The sculpture was removed for restoration in 2003, intended to be completed by 2005. However, due to financial issues
2640-465: The new post office building opened ( Zeppelinstraße ). Gradually the bathing areas on the beach were closed. In 1922 the men's swimming pool was demolished and finally, in 1932, the family swimming pool followed suit. In 1937 the construction of the KdF ("Strength Through Joy") resort at Prora began. It was planned to be Europe's largest seaside resort. The standard gauge Ostseebad Binz railway station
2706-581: The north side was used for urban combat training by the Parachute Battalion and others. Large sections remain as ruins to this day. Also housed in the building from 1982 to 1990 was the East German Army Construction Battalion "Mukran", where conscientious objectors served as noncombatant Construction Soldiers ( Bausoldaten ) to meet their military service obligation. A part of the building also served as
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2772-454: The northernmost part of the complex, it was divided into five contiguous parts. In late 2008, plans were approved to have Prora fill its original purpose and turn it into a modern tourist resort. The council set out plans to build enough living space to house 3,000 people, as well as a youth hostel , and amenities for tourists. Kerstin Kassner, a local councillor, compared Prora's shore with
2838-587: The now-famous depiction of the horrors of war, as well as Alexander Calder 's sculpture Mercury Fountain and Joan Miró 's painting Catalan peasant in revolt . Two of the other notable pavilions were those of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union . The organization of the world exhibition had placed the German and the Soviet pavilions directly across from each other. Hitler had desired to withdraw from participation, but his architect Albert Speer convinced him to participate, showing Hitler his plans for
2904-568: The onset of World War II in 1939, building on Prora stopped and the construction workers transferred to the V-Weapons plant at Peenemünde . The eight housing blocks and the theatre and cinema remained empty shells. The swimming pools and festival hall never materialised. If the complex had been completed, it would have been the largest holiday resort in the world. During the Allied bombing campaign, many people from Hamburg took refuge in one of
2970-410: The opening of the beach promenade. In 1898, the first post office was built ( Haus Kliesow, Hauptstraße ). On the beach separate swimming pools were created for men and women. In 1902, a 600-metre-long pier was built. Other infrastructure projects included the construction of a drinking water supply and sanitation (1903) and the a power station ( Jasmunder Straße ). Two setbacks were the destruction of
3036-614: The pier by a storm on New Year's Eve in 1905 and the burning down of the spa house in 1906. After the reconstruction of the pier in 1908, a new spa house was built. At the same time a family swimming pool was created. In 1912 a section of the pier collapsed, killing 17 people. Then in 1913 in Leipzig, the German Lifeguard Association was established. In 1913 the Protestant church was consecrated and, in 1928,
3102-488: The result was unrepresentative of Britain and compared poorly to the other pavilions' projections of national strength. The Pavillon des Temps Nouveaux (Pavilion of New Times) was a tent pavilion designed by Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret . In 1932, Le Corbusier heard the announcement of the proposed Expo and immediately issued an ambitious counter proposal. When funding for his project failed to materialise, he offered several scaled down versions, none of which attracted
3168-436: The rights to refurbish Prora and market the units as summer homes. By that year, refurbished apartments in the so-called Colossus were on sale for as much as €700,000 each. The completion date was estimated as 2016. In 2016, the first of the new apartments opened in Block 1. The Prora Solitaire hotel in Block 2 opened for the summer of 2016, and some reconstructed flats were for sale in that Block by mid 2017. At that time, four of
3234-424: The site as a whole, the blocks of the building began being sold off individually for various uses. On 23 September 2004, Block 6 sold for €625,000 to an unknown bidder. On 23 February 2005, Block 3, the former Museum Mile, was sold to Inselbogen GmbH, which announced that the building would be used as a hotel. In October 2006, blocks 1 and 2 were sold to Prora Projektentwicklungs GmbH which announced plans of converting
3300-550: The site served as one of the largest youth hostels in Europe. Since 2000, the Documentation Centre Prora has been located at the southern edge of the fairground buildings. This center documents the construction and use history of the building. Discussed here are both the background of the project and its appropriation for Nazi propaganda. In 2004, following more than a decade of unsuccessful attempts to sell
3366-598: The weather stations of the German Met Office lower values are recorded. The driest month is February, the most rain falls in July. In July 1.9 times as much precipitation falls as in February. Precipitation varies very little and is very evenly spread throughout the year. At only 10% of weather stations are lower seasonal variations recorded. In 1318 the places was mentioned for the first time, as Byntze , in
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#17327754607123432-722: 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
3498-562: 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
3564-482: Was 4.5 km (2.8 mi) in length parallel to the beach, with the surviving structures stretching 3.0 km (1.9 mi). Although the buildings were planned as a holiday resort, construction was not completed, and they were not used for this purpose. Prora, as it was known, was however used largely by the Nazi Party for propaganda, with the supposed strength and power displayed in the construction effort of
3630-480: Was a large white box, decorated externally with a painted frieze by John Skeaping and internally with giant photographic figures which included Neville Chamberlain fishing. Its contents were crafts objects arranged according to English words which had become loanwords in French, such as "sport" and "weekend", and included some items by renowned potter William Worrall . There was considerable British criticism that
3696-471: Was also planned. The designs won a Grand Prix award at the 1937 Paris World Exposition . Construction began in 1936 and during the few years that Prora was under construction, all major construction companies of the Reich and nearly 9,000 workers were involved in this project. By 1938, construction costs had reached 237.5 million ℛ︁ℳ︁ (equivalent to € 1.06 billion in 2009). With
3762-507: Was built of wood – and thus endorsing an image of what they perceived Finland to be – they were unprepared for Aalto's avant-gardism. Canada had initially not planned to take part in the exposition because of reasons of cost. In February 1936, at a party in Ottawa, Raymond Brugère , the French minister-plenipotentiary pressed the prime minister William Lyon Mackenzie King and his Quebec lieutenant Ernest Lapointe , about Canada taking part in
3828-628: Was constructed in 1938, and the line from Binz to the junction at Lietzow was opened in 1939. During the winter of 1942 the pier was again destroyed, this time by ice. In 1950, the construction of the Prora complex was completed, and the buildings were used as barracks for the Volkspolizei (People's Police). Later, they were used to house the Nationale Volksarmee (National People's Army). The railway line between Binz and Lietzow
3894-473: Was designed by Alvar Aalto , following an open architectural competition held in 1936, where he had won both first and second prize, the winning entry "Le bois est en marche" forming the basis for the pavilion as built. Finland had been given a difficult, sloping wooded site near the Trocadéro , something which Aalto was able to exploit in creating a ground plan featuring an irregular chain of volumes joined in
3960-714: Was designed by Knut Knutsen [ no ] , Arne Korsmo and Ole Lind Schistad [ no ] . It included Hannah Rygen 's tapestry Ethiopia . The Spanish pavilion was arranged by the President of Spain Spanish Republican government and built by the Spanish architect Josep Lluis Sert . It attracted extra attention because the exposition took place during the Spanish Civil War . The pavilion included Pablo Picasso 's Guernica ,
4026-403: Was done under East German control. After the formation of the German Democratic Republic 's (GDR's) National People's Army in 1956, the buildings became a restricted military area housing several East German Army units. The most prominent were the elite 40. Fallschirmjägerbataillon Willi Sänger (40th Parachute Battalion "Willi Sänger") which was housed in block 5 from 1960 to 1982. Block 4 on
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#17327754607124092-409: Was nestled under the Eiffel tower looking out over the Seine to the main part of the Exposition site. Giuseppe Pagano was responsible for the overall co-ordination of the exhibits and was the first impact on entering the building, its large courtyard garden and its hall of honour. The main entry was through the Court of Honour that showcased life size examples of Italy's most important contribution to
4158-429: Was opened. Apart from the numerous early 20th-century hotels and villas in the town centre and along the seaside promenade, its main attractions are its 370-metre-long pier, the mid-19th-century Granitz Hunting Lodge and the enormous Prora complex just north of the town. Ostseebad Binz railway station stands at the end of the standard gauge Deutsche Bahn railway line from Stralsund via Bergen auf Rügen . Binz
4224-494: Was re-opened in 1952. In 1953, the government of the German Democratic Republic (GDR), in which Binz was then situated, initiated "Action Rose". This was the name of the programme under which privately owned hotels, and guest houses were taken into social ownership. These businesses were transferred to the FDGB (the federal body of the East German trade unions ), and included in their program of cheap holidays for union members. After 1972, more holiday centres were built for
4290-411: Was the benevolent dictatorship: sunny, open and Mediterranean, it was founded on discipline, order and unity. Marcello Piacentini was given the job of designing the pavilion exterior. He used a modern reinforced concrete frame combined with traditional elements such as colonnades, terraces, courts and galleries, the tower form, Classical rhythms and the use of Mediterranean marble and stucco. The pavilion
4356-410: 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, which would be a grand hall for speeches and concerts. At the same time, Hitler wanted
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