Nazi resort to turn into condo complex

A German company plans to convert the ruins of a massive Nazi-era resort on an island in the Baltic Sea into a five-star beach apartment complex with a spa.

Prora, on the northeast beach of the island, which is located in north eastern Germany, was built between 1936-39 as part of the Nazis’ “strength through joy” program.

Its development was abandoned when the Nazis diverted their resources to the war effort.

The project, a row of buildings facing the ocean, massive in size but outwardly with a Bauhaus façade designed with the austerity of a military barracks, has lain in ruins since the end of the war.

After the war it was used as an East German weapons depot, its location kept secret and deleted from non-classified maps.

Recently, the Berlin firm Metropole, which has exclusive rights to the unusual holiday destination, has decided to turn it into a condo complex, where units will run between $197,000 and $1.4 million.

According to a report in the Daily Mail, Prora was intended to be “the Third Reich’s equivalent of Butlins,” a well-known chain of holiday resorts in Britain.

“The past is the past. Prora may have been built by the Nazis, but it was never used by them or their soldiers. Now the place is so lovely, visitors want to get back to nature and enjoy its beauty,” the paper quoted a Manfred Hartwig, from Metropole as saying.