Reconstruction 7.4 (2007)
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Theme Park Reconstructed / Tanya Ury
Including the photo series Theme Park (51 photos)
2005-06
Click images for larger versions.
(German Version, Tanya Ury & Amin Farzanefar)
The History of Prora and Mass Tourism
Theme Park 1. Inside view of a café, Binz.
<1> Prora near Sassnitz, is part of a small holiday resort, Ostseebad Binz on the Prora Wiek, one of the bays on the Island of Ruegen, north Germany. Only a few kilometres of sandy beach separate them. The one, practically uninhabited, is a ghost town that is nevertheless visited by 250,000 sightseers each year because of its historical importance; the other is a tourist paradise, swarming with people, mainly in summer.
Theme Park 2. Window view from inside a café, Binz.
<2> "Prora was Europe's first industrialised holiday resort... it illustrates Nazism's militarization of civilian life." [1]
Theme Park 3. The residence "Vergissmeinnicht" (forget me not), Binz.
<3> Prora, known as the Colossus of Ruegen, consists chiefly of numerous barrack-like, 6 floor-high buildings, which were built and almost completed by the National Socialist Organisation 1936-39 and lie at a distance of ca. 150 m from the beach. This would-be seaside health resort, approximately 4.5 kilometres in length, was constructed for the benefit of 20,000 German workers, so that they might relax with "Kraft durch Freude", "Strength through Joy" to strengthen their nerves for the coming war. [2] The idea to build Prora, this massive tourist centre was Hitler's: "We must build an enormous resort - more impressive and larger than any one that has existed before." [3]
Theme Park 4. Woman looking at a menu outside the Restaurant Moewe (seagull), Binz.
<4> Coup d'états in which union leaders were murdered took place when the Nazis took over the worker's organisations; wages were frozen and employees could no longer afford to take holidays. The Nazi organisation opportunely recognised that they could meet the great call to unwind from the heavy demands of rearmament, by offering their own annual company vacations. [4] The Kdf project was instigated by the leader of the German Workers Front, Robert Ley as propaganda in the name of the working people - Strength through Joy became a mass movement that in Big Brother-like manner should organise the entire leisure time of its members.
Theme Park 5. Deutsche Flagge House (German Flag), Binz.
<5> The National Socialist Community - Strength through Joy (Nationalsozialistische Gemeinschaft Kraft durch Freude) had already been founded in 1933. By 1939, 34 Million members were taking 1-day holidays and 7 Million longer holidays, also in Europe - this was unprecedented in the history of tourism. By 1940, 130,000 members of the German Workers Front (Deutschen Arbeitsfront) should possess a KDF, the Volkswagen (VW, the people's car), a vehicle of mass tourism, which was to cost under a thousand Marks and was developed at the same time as the KdF fleet. It was the fleet that made mass tourism abroad possible, although only 1 in 6 workers could actually afford such cruises. [5]
Theme Park 6. Deutsches Haus (German House), Binz.
<6> Prora's architect Clemens Klotz of Cologne had been a member of the National Socialist Party Germany from 1933 on. The Prora bedrooms (ca. 2,5 x 5 metres) were all to have a sea view and built-in central heating so that they might be habitable out of season. There were to be reception halls, cafés, restaurants with terraces, amusement rooms with skittle alleys and billiard rooms, ballrooms for dancing and society events, a cinema and a theatre. A swimming pool for use in the cold months, 40 x 100 metres in size and embellished with artificial waves, was also to be constructed.
Theme Park 7. Brass band on the forecourt, close-up, Binz.
<7> KdF-Seebad Ruegen in Prora, which was also the prototype for four further such spas, was however never to operate as a KdF health resort. [6] The Kdf ships were painted grey and turned into floating hospitals for the war effort and military vehicles were built instead of the Kdf cars. After 1939 Prora did however, function as a training school for police battalions and female radio operators. The building firms and their workers were sent to work in places to serve military purposes, such as the rocket trials base Peenemuende and Westwall.
Theme Park 8. Brass band on the forecourt, Binz.
<8> In 1943 Prora also served as emergency quarters for bombed out citizens of Hamburg. Prora was moreover made use of, as a military hospital in 1944 and later became a refuge for persons in exile from Eastern Europe. Towards the end of the war the German Army detained Russian prisoners of war and Eastern European forced labour workers, including women, on the Prora grounds.
Theme Park 9. Two elderly twin ladies in blue on the pier, Binz.
Theme Park 10. The pier, cranes and German flags, Binz.
<9> After the war Prora became the DDR's [7] Officer's School, the premises were a military restricted area. The completion of some of the dormitory buildings was undertaken during this period. It was the NVA [8] that made 1000 beds in holiday homes accessible to officers. Prora was only made available to the public again in 1990. [9]
Theme Park 11. A Beach café, cranes and German flags, Binz.
<10> Today there are five blocks of buildings in the zone (an area of protected land), buildings with dormitories containing various museum institutions, including amongst others, the largest youth hostel in Europe, [10] the Wasserwelt museum (Waterworld), the Documentation Centre and a DDR museum, Planet DDR. The whole area is also well known abroad as an important memorial to the architectural and social history of the Third Reich. Prora became a listed historic monument in 1992. After the Nazi Party Rally Grounds in Nuremberg it is the largest completed architectural testament to the National Socialist era.
Theme Park 12. Sand, swan and sea, Binz, 1.
Theme Park 13. Sand, swan and sea, Binz, 2.
Theme Park 14. Sand, swan and sea, Binz, 3.
Different Kinds of Theme Parks
<11> In December 2003 the German government (under Chancellor
Gerhard Schroeder's leadership at the time) gave its approval
for the purchasing of the museum block, on condition that the
District of Ruegen and the Binz community agreed with the
sale. The various groups decided they would prefer to retain
the so-called Museum's Mile however, and rejected a sale to
Inselbogen Ltd and Uniconsulta; the Tenants' Association had
already prepared an offer to purchase the block themselves, in
1999. In September 2004, the Ministry of Finance nevertheless,
sold parts of the premises of the National Socialist
recreational centre Prora, and 70 Hectares of forest and open
country; Uniconsulta, an institution for market research,
registered in the Principality of Liechtenstein [11] bought the
ruins in the northern part of Prora, Inselbogen bought Block
III and adjacent sections.
Theme Park 15. Path to the sea, signpost and ship, Binz.
<12> Because it had been publicly auctioned, the Prora Museums' association were to have no say in a new configuration. It was feared that a huge property speculation was underway. [12] What Kurt Meyer, the director of the company Inselbogen Ltd., the new owner of the NVA-Museums and the Cultural Art City was planning for the future was unclear but in 2005, employees of the Prora Museum and the Documentation Centre had cause to fear for their existence should the rents to be raised. [13]
Theme Park 16. Path to the sea and boys, Binz.
<13> "'Should the sale be endorsed, the very centre of Prora would
be presented on a plate to someone who isn't concerned about
the historical importance of the place.' Rostock said that
Meyer was marketing Prora as a sort of Disneyland." [14]
Theme Park 17. Young people playing volleyball on Binz beach, 1.
Theme Park 18. Young people playing volleyball on Binz beach, 2.
<14> The issue raised by Rostock that Prora might be marketed as a theme park [15] is justified: in the light of German repressive strategies towards certain less known chapters of German history, it is just conceivable that Kurt Meyer's Inselbogen might transform what was formerly a prisoner of war camp into a theme park. Dr. Juergen Rostock suspects that a hidden Right Wing agenda may be coming into play here. [16]
Theme Park 19. Nadine Burger and Nicole Schmidt, Binz beach.
<15> Rostock, director of the Prora Documentation Centre since 1992, has also held conferences and symposiums on the historical reappraisal of this former health resort. As we walked along the beach from Prora to Binz after the opening of the exhibition "Always Glad to be of Service...", in which I was participating, he told me that financial sponsoring for Prora had come from the European Union and not the German state that Rostock believes is actively suppressing many aspects of its darker past. [17] Certain places, especially the concentration camp memorials are financed by a German de facto subscription budget; funding is however, less likely to be designated to East German Memorials and when, if at all, then to Pennemuende (the former Nazi military base) - Prora goes empty-handed, which again indicates Germany's low regard for this particular monument.
Theme Park 20. Nadine Burger and Nicole Schmidt, boyfriends and baby, Binz, path and beach.
<16> Kurt Meyer, a former member of the Museum's executive and now owner of Block III, will however be permitted to speculate from 20 to 27 million Euros of regional treasury resources although further company strategies remain a mystery to the public. On the rest of the Prora premises further construction changes might also occur in the future, or is already under way, to some extent illegally: in Block V the Youth Hostel Centre (the largest in Europe) plans to build a large vocational centre for young people and families, Blocks I and II stand empty, Block VI doesn't exist any longer - there are only a few sections of ruin left. Block VII, on the other hand that is surrounded by ruins, parking lots and forestland, was auctioned off to the company Uniconsulta for 625,000 Euros on 23.9.04, although no planning permission existed.
Theme Park 21. Tourists on the pathway between hotels and beach, Binz.
The History of Binz and the Photo Series Theme Park
<17> It is said that the east coast of Ruegen, so near to the south coast of Denmark, has the most beautiful unspoilt German landscapes - the composer Brahms, the writers Gerhard Hauptmann, Theodor Fontane, Strindberg and other cultural luminaries enjoyed taking their leisure here. The ghost of German Romanticism lingers - and of course Kaspar David Friedrich also painted landscapes on the Island of Ruegen.
Theme Park 22. Hotel and flags on the pathway between hotels and beach, Binz, overcast weather.
<18> Towards the end of May 2005, when I presented artwork at the Prora Documentation Centre, in an exhibition about the Nazi involvement of German industry, I rented an apartment in the recently erected Hotel Binz-Therme and stayed a couple of days longer than intended - it was the first time I had been on the Ostsee, the Baltic Sea. The photo series Theme Park emerged from the many images I took of Prora's grey concrete and tileroofed buildings, or the exploded and ruined parts of mortar brick walls and alternately the older and newer holiday apartments, hotels, constitutional pathways and the animated, peopled beaches of Binz. My objective was to photograph the differences, or possible similarities between Prora and Binz. The outcome was a presentation that takes the viewer on a stroll through the various landscapes. The series is presented in a filmic, story-telling manner, the approach having been gained from my initial practice of video-making; although high-quality photographic technique was not necessarily a principal aim in this documentation, the photos were digitally reworked in 2006 to achieve a picture postcard look.
Theme Park 23. Pathway between hotels and beach, Binz; overcast weather.
<19> Binz already existed hundreds of years before Prora and was first referred to and documented as a fishing village in 1318. Today it is the largest health resort on the Island of Ruegen. The Kurhaus, spa assembly rooms in Binz, were first opened in 1908 and honoured by the German empress, the first official visitor. [18]
Theme Park 24. Pathway to hotel and beach, Binz; overcast weather.
<20> Most of the bathing-resort-architecture buildings in Binz were erected at the Fin de Siècle; [19] after German re-unification much restoration work on these older buildings as well as the construction of new edifices was being undertaken. Contemporary architecture in Binz echoes the Belle Époque style. These structures of Binz, unlike Prora, are all varied because diverse institutions with various architects put them up at different times but the contemporary architecture is not so interesting - numerous references to architecture of the recent past betray a sentimental approach to urban design. Conversely, although the Prora structures all appear similar because the design intention was primarily functional, even when their impact is monotonous, they remain excellent examples of classical and aesthetic concept architecture. [20] Hitler closed the Bauhaus down in 1932; Klotz adopted the school of architecture's approach without following their socialist ideals, however. [21] Clearly the Belle Époque style contemporary Binz architecture, while referring to the period of a comfortable and settled time before the First World War, utterly represses the 30's and 40's of the Nazi era, so apparent in Prora, along the bay.
Theme Park 25. Pathway with sea view and trees, Binz; overcast weather.
<21> In the background of some of the photos taken in Ostseebad Binz, one sees cranes - real estate is being built, the town continues to be developed. Prora frozen in time for now at least, remains purely a memorial to the German history of the Third Reich and the DDR. In many of the Binz photos, one sees German flags.
Theme Park 26. Tourists and jogger on the pathway between hotels and beach, Binz, overcast weather.
<22> Many older, or disabled people go to Binz to convalesce. In some of the photos, tourists also amuse themselves listening to a brass band on the Binz forecourt. Young people play sport on the beach. In Binz last May it was mainly families that I saw taking time out; two mothers of some of the young people that I photographed playing volleyball, overtook me on the beach to take a closer look at their children playing. The two couples and a child that I photographed were nevertheless not tourists - they were at home here, coming from the nearby towns of Bergen and Putbus.
Theme Park 27. Elderly man looking at map sign of Ostseebad Binz; overcast weather.
Festival of the People - the 1st film of the Olympic games, Berlin 1936, artistic direction Leni Riefenstahl.
Romanticism and Body Culture
<23> In the area around Prora there is a beach signposted specifically for dogs. I was told that there was an additional beach for nudists, although I could find no sign for this. Naturism, Freikoerperkultur, known in Germany as FKK, is a residue of the DDR times. [22] The Nazi regime was however, prudish in its regulations regarding nudity in public places. A specifically National Socialist youth and body culture in art, particularly prominent in the photography and film of the 1936 Olympics, by Leni Riefenstahl, was rather a reference to ancient Greek and Roman art.
Theme Park 28. Statue and trees looking out over beach and bay, Binz, overcast weather.
Theme Park 29. Path to the sea and pine trees, Binz; overcast weather.
<24> Signs of the present times find their way into the Prora terrain (and my photos) in the form of a van decorated with advertisements for a disco. I photographed several other signs in Prora, including one, next to a building that warned of danger to life. Even without the notice one can see the precarious condition of the edifices - there are broken windows everywhere. Another poster in Prora informs of an 80's theme student party (a party with the 30's or 40's as theme would probably be considered in bad taste).
Theme Park 30. Ducato van decorated with advertisement for M3 disco, Prora.
<25> A couple of photos depict sea views seen beyond pine trees at Binz and are reminiscent of the Romantic period, when Kaspar David Friedrich was painting landscapes on Ruegen. [23]
Chalk Cliffs (on Rügen), oil on canvas,
90,5 x 71 cm,, Caspar David Friedrich 1830.
Theme Park 31. M3 discotheque in Prora.
<26> On the two last photographs one sees a group of young people being addressed by an adult - clearly it is a school outing with educational purposes. The children are no doubt receiving lessons on the history of Prora. But in Prora, apart from along the Museums' Mile, one rarely meets with a human soul on the pathways, encountering merely rows upon rows of uninhabited old buildings and pine trees. Should the Prora barracks be renovated, rehabilitated, and somehow transformed into something that were to be a source of tourist interest, this situation would certainly change.
Theme Park 32. M3 van and a woman in red jacket on path, Prora.
Twinning
<27> Although constructed at different periods, Binz and Prora are like twin towns in their proximity to one another. One of the photographs in the series that conveys the doubling premise evocatively is of two elderly identical twin ladies in blue, on the pier at Binz; the octogenarians are dressed similarly, apart from the shoes, one wears glasses and the other requires the assistance of a walking frame on wheels. Doubling and polarities are themes that also occur in other works of mine; the biblical Jacob, who cheated his twin brother Esau of his rightful testament, thus became the founding father of a doctrine of avarice supported by violence upon which the Judeo-Christian culture has been based; Jacob also wrestled with his Angel for a blessing. [24] Another (twin) idea that inspired me to write and make artwork [25] was the discovery that Hitler, the dictator and Wittgenstein, the philosopher, both attended the same school as 14 year-olds in Austrian Linz. They were also born within 6 days of each other, the former 20.4.1889 the latter 26.4.1889, making of them virtual twins, who both proclaimed their philosophies and affected world history in extremely contrasting ways.
Theme Park 33. Tourist with a camera and yellow jacket, Prora,
at the former "House of the Army".
<28> The Binz twins in turquoise blue blouses are old enough to have witnessed the entire history of Prora, had they always taken holidays in Binz. On holiday at such resorts, one can form lifelong friendships. Last December I made the acquaintance of Nicole when she came to a video screening of mine. Nicole's father is an Iranian, or rather Persian Jew, but the family on her mother's side has, like my Jewish family, lived in Cologne (in the Rhineland) for generations. Nicole informed me that her great grandmother Jeanette Wolff and my great grandmother Flora Unger became friends when they were inmates of the concentration camp Theresienstadt, though they had already known each other in Cologne - they were neighbours in the Liebig Strasse. My great grandparents survived, although they were over 70 years old at the time; Nicole's great grandmother did not survive her daughter Rosi Oppenheimer, who had also been incarcerated in Theresienstadt.
***
Theme Park 34. Side view of the rounded section of the fairground border buildings, Prora.
<29> Germany became the forerunner of the town-twinning movement, born in Europe shortly after the Second World War in 1947, when it connected the towns Hanover and Bristol with one another. The concept in twinning was to pair towns or cities from geographically and politically distinct areas, with the aim to foster human contact, as well as encouraging economic and cultural alliances.26 By 1951, Germany had 100 twinnings in place. The idea was to assist in uniting Europe - wartime enemy towns were encouraged to find reconciliation in this way. The former DDR did not involve itself until 1986 however, preferring first to shore up its own uncertain identity. Their first twinning was between Saarlouis (FRG: Federal Republic of Germany) and Eisenhuettenstadt (GDR: German Democratic Republic). The twinnings between West and East Germany (64 were made within 3 years) helped in the reunification process after 1989 27.
Theme Park 35. Prora ruin, a wire fence with 80's student party sign.
Disneyland
<30> Paul McCarthy, whose installation "Caribbean Pirates", which I saw at the Whitechapel Gallery, London (23 October 2005 - 8 January 2006), explores "themes of invasion and occupation of foreign lands"28 also presented "Documents-Flicker Video" 2005, Video loop" in the same exhibition, that with continued fast edits juxtaposed, amongst other things, still images of Mickey Mouse with Hitler, Disneyland with Nazi rallies and more Disneyland landscapes alongside Neuschwanstein and other fantasy castles that King Ludwig of Bavaria had designed and built.
Theme Park 36. Prora buildings, rubbish container and "Lebensgefahr" sign (danger to life).
<31> By way of these pieces McCarthy appears to adopt a critical stance towards (Germany's past and) the colonising practices of the USA. [29] But the message of his work could be misunderstood, for McCarthy sold the "Caribbean Pirates" to Friedrich Christian Flick, grandson and heir to the largest Nazi arms industry magnate; McCarthy and Flick also became close friends. [30]
Theme Park 37. Documentation Centre, Prora.
<32> In this construction, one might well ask what the role of art, the artist, or that of the art collector could, or ethically seen, should be. Flick acquired the so-called Flick-Collection with blood money gained during the 2nd World War from the exertions of 150,000 forced labour workers, prisoners of war and concentration camp inmates, "employed" under appalling conditions in the Flick industry. Flick, his father and grandfather declined to recompense their victims. Friedrich Christian Flick started buying art in 1996 the year in which the fund for former forced labour workers was instigated in Germany. While the much-hyped Flick-Collection continues to increase steadily in value, because of continued pressure, Flick finally made a gift of 5 million Euros to the fund in May 2005. This gesture was a drop in the ocean of what he could and should have done, however.
Theme Park 38. Prora buildings with broken windows.
"Mad Cowboy", Munich 28.6.2005 Left: View of the parade, June 12, 2005. Right: Paul McCarthy. (All photos: A. Burger) http://www.artforum.com/diary/archive=200506
<33> On 21st September 2004 the German Federal Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and Frau Christina Weiss, the Cultural Minister at the time, appeared at the opening of the Flick-Collection in Berlin, in the presence of Christian Friedrich Flick. And then on 10th May 2005, 60 years after the end of World War II, while attending the much publicized opening of the new Holocaust monument to the murdered Jewish people of Europe in Berlin, the Schroeder government concurrently and inappropriately gave its authorisation for Prora, one of Germany's most important memorials to the Fascist past, to be sold out.
Theme Park 39. Prora buildings and pathway 1.
<34> If Prora is an eyesore on the landscape, one should nevertheless not forget its legacy, which is still clearly visible: Prora was constructed not merely in the cause of mass tourism and relaxation, but also in the cause of mass exploitation and mass murder.
Theme Park 40. Prora buildings and pathway 2.
Under Reconstruction
<35> Were Prora to be officially twinned with another settlement, dare I suggest the location of Long Kesh, the former Northern Ireland prison, as a suitable venue? The repression of history and the re-evaluation of historically important locations, does not only occur in Germany: a reconstruction, if not of history itself, then of the site were history was made, will soon take place at Long Kesh, re-named "The Maze" following the infamous hunger strikes to the death of 10 Irish political prisoners in 1981 - a leisure complex is to be constructed on the premises:
Theme Park 41. Prora buildings and pine trees 1.
Theme Park 42. Prora buildings and pine trees 2.
Theme Park 43. Prora buildings and pine trees 3.
<36> "Building a leisure complex there is rather like turning Belsen into a Butlins." Derek Brown, Guardian Weekly (International) (GB) June 9-15 2006. [31]
Theme Park 444. Prora buildings and overgrown path.
<37> In the rest of his article Derek Brown denigrates the value of the hunger strikes and other violent Irish protest to English rule. At the time however, English artist Richard Hamilton was not left cold by the Catholic Irish cause for independent rule. In his diptych he adopted a moral position critical towards English policies in Ireland: Hamilton presented Bobby Sands, protesting in his "dirty" cell, in the pose of a Christian martyr. [32]
Theme Park 45. Prora ruin and sand path.
Tanya Ury, Cologne, June 2006. Editor Amin Farzanefar.
Special thanks to Dr. Juergen Rostock for his helpful remarks.
Theme Park 46. Wide sand path,
twisted, rusty iron girder and Prora buildings in the distance, 1.
Post Scriptum
<38> I flew from Cologne/Bonn airport Germany to London Stansted on the 10th August 2006 to show artwork and give this talk in London. As the plane came into London the pilot told us of possible delays at the airport due to the bomb scares in London. I asked the man I was sitting next what the pilot had been referring to because I hadn't seen, read or heard the news that day and he told me that there had been bomb threats on 10 flights that were to leave for the USA from London Heathrow and Gatwick airports that morning. Stansted was also under higher security surveillance - many flights from Germany to London had in fact been cancelled. A war had been raging between the Hezbollah in Lebanon and Israel for a month and the ongoing terrorist war on planes, trains and buildings had finally been established as, not a world war as such but certainly a global war, in response to the clash between extremists of eastern and western cultures.
Theme Park 47. Wide sand path,
twisted iron girder and Prora buildings in the distance, 2.
<39> I continued to converse with my neighbour on the plane, an Irish scientist, forty-something and a Dubliner living in Cambridge. I told him about what was to become of Long Kesh, "The Maze", and asked him what he thought of my information. Firstly he had not heard of the planned demolition of the prison and wondered why there had not been reported demonstrations against this decision and the building of the leisure complex in its place. He was against the removal of this significant monument, his main point being however that given the current shortage of jails in Great Britain, one could hardly afford to demolish a viable penal complex. His comment and my subsequent research into the lack of prisons in Great Britain and Northern Ireland [33] confirmed my suspicion that the aim in removing "The Maze" has primarily been to bury its history, a reminder of the war that Britain waged in Ireland, on its own doorstep until recently.
Theme Park 48. Wide sand path,
twisted iron girder and Prora buildings in the distance, 3.
PPS
<40> Although I took the photos for the series Theme Park in May 2005, nothing had changed dramatically regarding the transaction situation in Prora during the research period for this article a year and a half later. Mid October 2006 however, it was made publicly known that Ulrich Busch, an estate agent and buyer of Prora's Blocks I and II intended to rebuild the buildings as holiday flats. But Herr Busch, the son of a well-known East German actor Ernst Busch, says that he does not want to make a secret of Prora's past - Busch senior (1900-1980), a cabaret singer-performer had been imprisoned by the SS for 2 years for his anti-Nazi campaigning in the 1920s.
Theme Park 49. Close-up of a pine tree branch with a lost toy.
<41> 'The new owners are planning mainly flats for the two blocks south of the current Museum's Mile. The Hamburg Lawyer Paulick's investor group had already made plans for a similar project, which were however, later retracted. "There is never a guarantee that certain plans will be realised. We and the community, however see that there is a good chance that with the current buyers of this project will really carry out their plans", says Karg. "Not only do we have the impression that they will manage it but the Mayor of the community of Binz is also convinced." Ulrich Busch cannot at the present time say exactly how Blocks I and II will look in the future."'34
Theme Park 50. Youth group receiving history lesson, 1.
Theme Park 51. Youth group receiving history lesson, 2.
Notes
[1] From Jonathan Meade's "Jerry Building - Unholy Relics of Nazi Germany" BBC North 1994 [^]
[2] „The KdF movement was the birth of mass tourism. KdF mass tourism had a lot in common with the modern tourist industry. The one was a social and political project however, the other a commercial phenomenon. (...) It is not the size of the buildings that make the KdF seaside resort project so criticisable. There have been enough large hotels built since. The Spanish Mediterranean coast has for example, assembled higher, more unstructured and more massive developments to an extreme, to the point of becoming dysfunctional. The megalomania of the KdF resort Ruegen, the monumentality and the overwhelming size, were the brand name of numerous "Third Reich" building projects - but never before had such high and large houses been seen on Ruegen. There was also criticism at the time that the „Voelkische Beobachter" (The National Observer, newspaper) indirectly went into (with sarcasm): 'The treetops of the deciduous and coniferous forests tower above the six floor housing developments.'" P. 39 & 41 "Paradies Ruinen - Das KdF-Seebad der Zwanzigtausend auf Ruegen" (Paradise Ruins - the KDF Seaside Health Resort of Twenty Thousand on Ruegen), Juergen Rostock and Franz Zadnicek, Christoph Links publishing house, Berlin, 1992, 6th Edition August 2001, ISBN 3-86153-149-6 (English translation T.U.) [^]
[3] "Macht Urlaub - Das KdF-Seebad Prora" (Power holiday - the KdF Seaside Resort Prora), Accompanying film on DVD to the permanent exhibition in the Documentation Centre Prora, Katharina Rostock 2005. [^]
[4] "The regime was caught up in a dilemma; the loyalty of industry in general and that of the workers was essential for rearmament. In order to keep the workers quiet, despite the eradication of their organisations and in spite of attempts to attain a very low level of wages, an alternative was offered (a directive of company managers), in the form of the implementation of thus unattainable consumer goods: cars, holidays and inexpensive radios." P. 24 ibid 2 (English translation T.U.) [^]
[5] "At the same time the DAF (German Workers Front) was a kind of compulsory
organisation, for which a subscription was regularly charged. If one wanted to work in
the Third Reich, one could hardly exist without being a DAF member. Of course, only a
small part of the available finances from this organisation flowed into the KdF fleet or even Prora. But that amount was made the most of, in propaganda terms. The illusion
at the time, that the worker had a privileged status is a myth still propagated in
rightwing circles. Many people, who would like to discuss these issues with us,
believe that here is an example of the good side of National Socialism. One has to
make it clear that National Socialism has no good sides, and that even the Kdf organisation was ultimately there only to serve the forces of destruction, war and
terror - this has long been an accepted position of historical researchers. In this
respect and politically seen, Prora is more important than the Nuremberg Nazi Party
Rally Grounds, because it is an exemplary representation of the social demagogy of the Third Reich." Dr, Jürgen Rostock, article 2005 NZ Netzeitung GmbH (NZ Net Newspaper
Ltd. Ronald Dueker: http://www.netzeitung.de/voiceofgermany/321413.html (English
translation T.U.)[^]
[6] "The shell of all the eight blocks, with the exception of one, the southern rounded section of the fairground border buildings and the quays, had already been completed, not the swimming pools however, nor the Festival Halls, nor further parts of industrial buildings. They were never realised. The most essential safety measures were concluded on the shell, before construction activities were finally brought to a close, however. The delivered building materials stayed on site, which is evidence of the planned intention to recommence work after the war." http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seebad_Prora (English translation T.U.) [^]
[7] Democratic Republic of Germany. [^]
[8] The NVA (Nationale Volksarmee - National People's Army) was the Army of the DDR, from 1956 to 1990. [^]
[9] "When the Soviet Union took control over Ruegen in May 1945, the establishment was deployed for the internment of the original owners and the continued housing of those who had been exiled from their Eastern European homelands. Parts of the establishment were taken apart and dispatched. The Soviet Army used the buildings from 1948 till 1953; they detonated the southern shell and removed materials. Detonations were also carried out on both of the most northerly housing blocks. The buildings were severely damaged but parts of them remained standing, however." Ibid 6 (English translation T.U.) [^]
[10] The original enterprise consisted of 8 blocks, 500 metres in length. The current numbering starts with Block 0, because this no longer exists. [^]
[11] "According to the Binz Mayor Horst Schaumann: 'One can't build anything on the site because of the land development plan'. The forests there are protected. The new proprietor would moreover, also have to ensure the safety of the public around the ruined buildings that are also listed. Any income at present can only be realised from the leasing of two parking lots. A change in the land development plan is not foreseen at present, says Schaumann. Up till now the buyer has also not yet made contact with the community - queries regarding his plans have not been replied to." Newspaper article: Raimund Nitzsche, P. 8 taz No. 7539 from 14.12.2004 (English translation T.U.) [^]
[12] Information from the Documentation Centre Prora, description of the plans and the sale of the land holding Prora - May 2005 [^]
[13] "Netzeitung: When Herr Meyer buys the property, you will have to move out. Rostock: Yes, possibly within the same month, but that is unavoidable. Seen from an economic angle this regulation is incidentally, also quite monstrous. With our Documentation Centre alone, we are talking about the investment of one and a half million Euros, unpaid work quite apart. Curiously though, Herr Meyer has only had to pay 340,000 Euro for the entire estate. What with 64,000 metres of useable floor space, you can work out the price per square metre. It comes to the price of carpet flooring approximately, or even less. I call that the misuse of national wealth. With that sort of purchase price, it is also ready cash for the Federal Finance Minister. One has the feeling that the actual issue is about getting rid of this problematical plot of land. In order to justify all this, the Ministry of Finance has been required to provide completely excessive information on the financial expenditure for necessary renovation work." Ibid 5 (English translation T.U.) [^]
[14] Newspaper article: Raimund Nitzsche, P. 8 taz No. 7539 from 14.12.2004 [^]
[15] This statement darkly evokes a different kind of Nazi establishment, the death camp,
in a notorious assertion made by Holocaust denier David Irving that Auschwitz was a
fairytale (from an Austrian interview of 1989. Irving recently retracted this pronouncement in order to improve his circumstances during his trial, but was
nevertheless convicted to 3 years imprisonment in Vienna, February 2006 "He regrets
that he made the strong formulation about gas chamber fairytales, that in the face of
his current knowledge, is now redundant. Regarding his statement that 'Auschwitz is a
Disneyland for tourists', he declines to withdraw this, because 'it is unfortunately a
fact'; 'it was rebuilt' after the war. He doesn't deny the Holocaust, 'I only doubt
some of the details'. The fact that the Nazis murdered millions of Jews is in no
doubt." Reinhard Olt, Vienna, 3.5.2006, Frankfurter Allgemeine Newspaper, FAZ.NET http://www.faz.net/s/Rub77CAECAE94D7431F9EACD163751D4CFD/Doc~E718FF10
906CD4B3FBB79F333DBCCAF1E~ATpl~Ecommon~Scontent.html (English translation Ury) [^]
[16] Extreme Right Wing parties in the Ruegen area received 3.5% of the vote on 2.11.2005, http://www.verfassungsschutz-mv.de/cgi-bin/verfassmv/neuig/details.pl?kenner=start&pos=5 [^]
[17] "Actually there was only one single federal Member of Parliament who over the years repeatedly involved himself in our cause: Lothar Mark of the German Social Democrat Party (SDP), was formerly the Mayor of Mannheim and speaker for culture on the home policy budget committee. It was Herr Mark, who is currently engaged chiefly in foreign policy that travelled to Prora and was there when we arrived, and gave the establishment an incredible economic and cultural opportunity, to which a comprehensive and overall plan is nonetheless required. On our behalf, he approached the Federal Chancellor, the Finance Minister and over the years the alternating Cultural Ministers repeatedly, from Herr Naumann to Frau Weiss. Herr Mark's engagement received no recognition from the laws that be, however. The Minister of Culture Naumann supported us with a larger sum for a project on one occasion only, but this wasn't a continued patronage, unfortunately. It wasn't until the end of last year after completion of the difficult purchasing deal of Block 3 that I received a message from the BKM (Bundesregierung fuer Kultur und Medien - the Federal Governing Body for Culture and Media) informing us that they wanted to discuss possible support strategies for the Documentation Centre." Ibid 5 (English translation T.U.) [^]
[18] "History of the pier at the Baltic seaside resort Binz: Binz was first mentioned on
record in 1318, as the small fishing village Byntze. Prince Putbus had the first
bathing huts erected around 1830. In the year 1870 it was no less than 80 persons that
found lodgings in the village inn or thatch-roofed huts. The first hotel was built in 1876 and with the foundation of the joint stock company Ostseebad Binz (Baltic Seaside
Resort Binz), feverish building activities were commenced, that soon resulted in
hotels and guesthouses being put up in whole streets. The first bridge, a 560-metre
long wooden construction, was opened in the summer of 1902. This was however, destroyed in a heavy storm flood of 1904. When it was re-built in 1905, it acquired
the name of Prinz-Heinrich-Bruecke (Prince Henry Bridge). On the 28th July 1912 a
catastrophe with terrible consequences occurred. A wooden crossbeam that shattered
during the landing of a steamer tore ca. 50 people into the water. There were 17 dead.
It was on the basis of this event that the Deutsche Lebens-Rettungsgesellschaft (DLRG
- German Life-Saver's Company) was founded in Leipzig, 1913. For over 50 years there
was no pier - the pier that was destroyed in the harsh winter of 1942-43 was not
rebuilt. It wasn't until May 1994 that Binz owned another 370-metre long pier. Every
year since 1994, a Binz pier festival has taken place in mid June for 2 days. The
highpoint of the two-day celebrations is a festive firework display on the Saturday
night over the Binz pier." http://www.ostseebadbinz.de/allgemein/abisz.php?keywords=seebrücke&
spalte=abisz_2 (English translation
T.U.) [^]
[19] Beginning of the 20th century. [^]
[20] "In fact Prora came out of International Modernism and presages that movement's declined into soulless repetition." Jonathan Meade, Ibid 2 [^]
[21] "The design language of the complex was bound by the vocabulary of simple modernity, in which the architecture was defined by function, and the outside structures were to be visible. The uniformity of the sequence of windows and the open sun lounge halls, certain façade structures of the dwelling houses, the condensed putting together of the technical maintenance facilities in the rear wing, and the breaking up of similar formed rows by the curved line of the community buildings, was developed along the lines of the principles of the Neue Sachlichkeit (the New Objectivity). The architectural forms and motives that were reminiscent of the Ideal City models of Ludwig Hilberseimer, Hans Scharoun, Erich Mendelsohn, or Le Corbusier, allowed themselves to be established in this way, elements of which had been tested by Klotz in the late 1920's and were now employed in a more developed style." P. 227 Der Koelner Architekt Clemens Klotz (The Cologne Architeckt Clemens Klotz), Petra Leser, Cologne, 1991, quoted in Paradise Ruins - the KDF Seaside Health Resort of Twenty Thousand on Ruegen. (English translation T.U.) [^]
[22] "After the first nude beach was established 1920 in Sylt, Germany, nude bathing in public (apart from on secluded club grounds) was again by and large banned from 1931 on, and after Hitler came into power in 1933, the FKK clubs were either disbanded or integrated into National Socialist organisations, the Bund fuer Leibeszucht (Association for Body Cultivation), for instance. The nude bathing ban was eased in an imperial ruling of the 10th July 1942, in which nude bathing away from the general public was permitted. (...) The alternate development of nude bathing in East and West Germany should be mentioned here. The practice of nude bathing in public at bathing lakes and other stretches of water (the Baltic Sea) was widespread in East Germany before German reunification. On stretches of water where the official bathing ban ruled (Kiesgruben etc), people bathed nude everywhere. At official bathing places there were many special separate FKK areas that were also, amongst other things, highlighted on city and touring maps. With young people in particular, this led to a natural and open relationship towards sexuality that went beyond sexism. The general liberality of public bathing resorts in East Germany was suppressed after German reunification. In the 1990's, on stretches of the Baltic beaches in particular, there were often confrontations between East German FKK members and West German tourists; the local tourist industry and municipal decision makers feared for lasting image problems and banned the FKK along with the separate beaches for dogs, to restricted outlaying districts, from then on." http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freikörperkultur (English translation T.U.) [^]
[23] Kreidekuesten, (Chalk Cliffs on Ruegen) Oil on canvas, 90,5 x 71 cm, ca. 1818 Caspar David Friedrich, (b. 1774, Greifswald, d. 1840, Dresden) Oskar Reinhart Foundation, Winterthur (D) [^]
[24] Article 'Transcending the Ladder' published in 'From Work to Word' ed. Doris Frohnapfel, Korridor Verlag, ISBN 3-9804354-8-2 (D) 2002 [^]
[25] Red Hot Pokers, a video documentation of a performance, 2003 and Poker Poems, English verse written in mirror form 2003 http://www.tanyaury.com. [^]
[26] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Town_twinning. [^]
[27] "Germany is now a nation facing many internal changes and problems. Above all, it is
turning into a multicultural society where immigrants - mainly from Turkey, the Balkan
states and the Middle East, a high percentage of them Muslims - have made their new
home. Perhaps new twinning arrangements will reflect these changes. With Turkey and
the Balkans already popular holiday destinations for Germans and with immigrants
maintaining links to their countries of origin, nothing should really stand in the
way. In the light of today's political climate and the events of 11 September 2001, threatening to split the world in two yet again, there could not be a more urgent and
important task than that of establishing or re-establishing some form of dialogue. As
in 1947, it could be the work of individuals." Germany and the town twinning movement,
Marina Weyreter 2003. Information on twinning and quotation: http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2242/is_1644_282/
ai_97228022/print. [^]
[28] "American artist Paul McCarthy At the Whitechapel London 23 October 2005 - 8 January 2006. The show continues with a major off-site installation of McCarthy's new work Caribbean Pirates in a warehouse near the Gallery. Developed from a conversation between the artist and his son, this work takes the Pirates of the Caribbean Disneyland theme park ride as its inspiration to explore themes of invasion and occupation of foreign lands. A life-sized frigate, a houseboat and a huge kinetic machine bear the gory remains of a month-long film shoot featuring 30 buccaneers and wenches engaged in increasingly brutal antics. The Whitechapel's show is the largest presentation of McCarthy's work in the UK. At once violent, obscene and grotesque, his visions raid our collective memories revisiting popular myths that resonate with contemporary global events." http://www.whitechapel.org/content.php?page_id=1936. [^]
[29] "A quick flashback: Munich 1931. Adolf Hitler orders the construction of the Haus der Deutschen Kunst-a museum-slash-propaganda tool where Der Fuehrer made public speeches, promoted his reactionary artistic agenda, and demonized Entartete Kunst (the Nazi term for avant-garde art practices). Fast-forward to 2005: In an uncanny reversal of history, today's pre-eminent degenerate artist-Paul McCarthy - has been welcomed into the same fascist edifice. (...)I had to experience the whole thing vicariously through various video highlights, including: Cavalry troops parading like members of the SS in front of the Haus der Kunst, guzzling Bavarian beer, pissing, and jerking off on each other as part of an ueber-macho Aryan orgy - thereby advancing McCarthy's conflation of National Socialist bravado and an imagined American West." Alison Gingeras, Art Forum. http://www.artforum.com/diary/archive=200506. [^]
[30] „Flick talks of a 'longing' to understand what one cannot understand, what one merely senses as a signal. This "longing" is something that artists can record somehow. Apart from Fischli/Weiss, Roman Signer and Pipilotti Rist, who belong to his circle of artist friends, are for example also Franz West from Vienna and the enfant terrible of the international art market, the notorious Californian Paul McCarthy. "McCarthy has before now visited me often in Gstaad", the collector reports, "sometimes we sit on the balcony, eat and debate 'til five in the morning." He can't explain what the artists have given him - it isn't anything intellectual, rather something existential. What most fascinates him with the contact he has with creative people is that he can grasp a more comprehensive perspective: "There are people and there are artists, and artists are just different from people. Their brains tick differently." (Der Tagesspiegel (Newspaper), 17th January 2003)". Quotation from P. 128, Von der Kunst des Erbens - Die „Flick-Collection" und die Berliner Republik (About the Art of Inheritance - The Flick Collection and the Berlin Republic, Peter Kessen, Philo & Philo Fine Arts GmbH, Berlin Vienna, 2004 ISBN 3-86572-521-X [^]
[31] "Notorious Maze finds new use. Once upon a time Northern Ireland's Long Kesh Prison was a byword for human degradation. Then its name was changed to the Maze, a crass rebranding that did nothing for its reputation. Now the wretched site outside Lisburn in County Antrim is to be obliterated and replaced by a luxury leisure complex featuring a sports stadium, a multi-screen cinema, an upmarket hotel, restaurants and much more.
Long Kesh was a prison. A concentration camp, as diehard republicans were fond of saying. Its inmates, both republican and loyalist, postured as prisoners of war, when in reality most of their soldiering had been directed at unarmed civilians. It was the setting for hunger strikes, in which republican prisoners starved themselves to death with absolutely no profit to their cause. It was also host to the dirty protest, in which inmates smeared their cells with their own faeces to make some point or other. Building a leisure complex there is rather like turning Belsen into a Butlins." Derek Brown, Guardian Weekly (International) (GB) June 9-15 2006 [^]
[32] "25 years ago today after a hunger strike of 66 days, Robert Gerard Sands more commonly known as Bobby Sands died. He had been born on the 9th of March 1954 and was only 27 when he died. He was serving a 14-year sentence for possession of firearms, a pistol, which had been found in car in which he and 4 others had been travelling. His trial in 1977 saw other charges relating to a bomb, which had been planted nearby the car dropped for lack of evidence. It was not his first experience of imprisonment. He had joined the IRA in 1972 and that same year been interned and held without trial till 1976. Of his 27 years' life, only 17 were spent in freedom. Ireland as they say - was different then. & it is vitally important for younger readers to spend some time reflecting on those differences, and what forces brought Bobby Sands to internment, to IRA activism, to the Crown Prisons of Long Kesh / the Maze and saw him begin a fast on March 1, 1981 at only 26 years of age. That fast would turn into a hunger strike, and see him elected to Westminster as MP for Fermanagh & South Tyrone on the 9th of April 1981, with 30,492 votes to 29,046 for the Ulster Unionist Party candidate Harry West; less than a month later his life would end in globally recognised martydom. The Citizen by Richard Hamilton (1924 -2005) was painted as oil on canvass as a diptych on two panels with dimensions of 200 x 100.9cm and 200x100cm, between 1981 and 1983. The diptych formed part of a three series reflection on the conflict in the north of Ireland and was supposed to stylise a "dirty protester" in Long Kesh / The Maze as a Christian Martyr. The other two of the three paintings by Hamilton are The Subject 1988-9 shows an Orangeman, a member of the order dedicated to defend Unionism in Northern Ireland. The State 1993 shows a British soldier undertaking solitary patrol on a street. Many dismissed them as naive. Though Hamilton had earned respect for his treatment of Irish subjects since the 1940's with attempts to illustrate James Joyce's "Ulysses". The Citizen was first displayed alongside an installation of drawings of Long Kesh, its prisoners and those (who) worked there by Rita Donnagh his partner, in an "art endeavour" which was welcomed to the wrath of Thatcher in London with a grant from the GLC under Ken Livingstone. The Citizen was then purchased by the Tate Gallery London in 1985, but due to display space limitations did not hang before the public until 2000 and the opening of the second Tate Gallery. It was 19 years after Mr. Sand's death." 5.5.2006 Indymedia Ireland http://www.indymedia.ie/article/75874. [^]
[33] "The Secretary of State for the Home Department (John Reid): 20th July 2006: Column
476 "key measure of the effectiveness of the criminal justice system" - "Our prisons
are full to bursting, which is, after all, why we are here today to discuss this
issue. Offenders have little chance of rehabilitation, and dangerous criminals are
released early. Some 70 per cent. of young males are now reconvicted within two years
of release - up from 56 per cent. Since 1998, more than 200 offenders on supervision
have been convicted of murder. Those facts are direct results of Government policy.
They have consistently failed to create enough prison places, instead choosing to
release offenders early, thereby putting the lives of innocent citizens at risk.
Now the Home Secretary says that he will build more prisons, which we of course welcome. Will those extra places be enough - over and above the ongoing growth in the
prison population - to accommodate the tougher sentences and guidelines that he is
proposing today? When will those sentencing measures come into force? When will the
new prisons be built and when will the 8,000 extra prison places be ready for use? I
understand from press coverage that it will take five years to get these extra places on stream. What will happen meanwhile? Will there be more early releases of would-be
murderers? Will there be more ridiculously light sentences for rapists and
paedophiles? If, as he says, he is going to release other people, can he give us more
details on who they will be?"
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200506/cmhansrd/cm060720/
debtext/60720-1033.htm. [^]
[34] Blocks I and II in Prora have new owners. They want to build apartments and
establish businesses on the ground floor. Prora Blocks I and II have found new owners.
Raymund Karg of the National Association for Real Estate Matters yesterday confirmed
the sale of the ca.36 Hectare large area to OZ (Ostsee-Zeitung - Baltic Sea
Newspaper). The Binz „Prora Projektentwicklungs GmbH" (Prora Project Development Company) acquired it. The not unheard of project developers Ulrich Busch and engineer
Dieter Zeuke, who leads the business team of the company Ostbau in Osterburg (Sachsen-Anhalt), are behind this company. Karg stated that others had been interested to
purchase the two blocks. Because both concepts were similar the final acquisition
price was above the acceptance price. He did not wish to comment on how high it was.
Permission from the parliamentary budget committee has still not been given. The new
owners are planning mainly flats for the two blocks south of the current Museum's
Mile. The Hamburg Lawyer Paulick's investor group had already made plans for a similar
project, which were however, later retracted. "There is never a guarantee that certain plans will be realised. We and the community, however see that there is a good chance
that with the current buyers of this project will really carry out their plans", says
Karg. "Not only do we have the impression that they will manage it but the Mayor of
the community of Binz is also convinced." Ulrich Busch cannot at the present time say
exactly how Blocks I and II will look in the future. From the previous building plans
it is nevertheless known that under preservation of historic monuments terms, the
construction of balconies might also be considered on the sea side of the buildings.
Lifts built into the stairwells could connect the six-floor-high buildings. Circa
16,000 to 17,000 square metres of area are available in both blocks (for development).
The new owners want to utilise the greatest part for living accommodation: private
apartments, holiday homes, homes for the elderly. The Plan B procedure will clarify
how many apartment units there will eventually be. Busch and Zeuke are planning a mix
of culture, art, gastronomy, small business enterprise and shopping possibilities for
the ground floor. They want to include Binz trades people in these decisions. The investors are also talking to previous clients of the Museum's Mile and the
Documentation Centre, to see if their proposals for Blocks I and II can be realised.
MAIK TRETTIN. 20.10.2006 http://www.ostseezeitung.de/archiv.phtml?SID=cc1cd78fb934fad9bf84
9c46e9235559&Param=DBArtikel&ID=2467235 [^]
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