Colossus of Prora The Third Reichs Massive Holiday Resort

[@Jayjay-qe6um]

Prora was featured in the video game Civilization V, specifically within the expansion pack Civilization V: Brave New World. It appears in the game as a world wonder associated with the ideology 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 Jugendwekhof - a workhouse for juvenile delinquents - located in the planned holiday resort.

[@8bitboxcar]

I also came here to mention Civ V haha

[@klti0815]

A youth hostel has been there in the 90s already, although in a different block, and in a much more makeshift and rundown kind of state using mostly old army furniture and stuff like that. I was there on a school trip for a couple of days in the late 90s, and it was basically the only way a school trip to the beach was financially doable for anyone involved. It was weird and cool at the same time.

[@leonideschnuppe]

This is my best Prora story: I stayed a few nights in the KdF museum. And yes, directly in this museum. My best friend at the time worked there for some time while in university. His room was some kind of sideroom of a showroom. I visited him in summer. One night I needed to use the toilet. I was to afraid to go alone. So my friend and I had to go the endless hallway with nazi exhibits with a torch, because the only light you could turn on was for the whole museum. And we needed to be quiet to don't wake up other employees of the museum in other siderooms 😅 Oh and for all interested in visiting: One of the wellness hotels is Bavaria themed. So you can have a lot of Germany in one visit 🥨

[@ignitionfrn2223]

1:30 - Chapter 1 - Paradise for pennies 5:30 - Chapter 2 - Strength through joy 9:05 - Chapter 3 - Life during wartime 13:15 - Chapter 4 - Modern times - Chapter 5 - - Chapter 6 -

[@DennisCambly]

The company that was allowed to repair the buildings in Prora offered investors $24,000.00 per suite. There is in fact more to Prora than most people know. There are historical buildings built between 1800-1850 that were also restored. Today each of the suites to buy is beyond one million. Great tourist area now that all but one original building stands unfinished. The investment was worth every dollar to get involved with the refurbishing of the original structures as well as the historical ones.

[@bobbyglick5307]

Simon you’re missing footage on your video of all of the sub levels at Prora, some of it’s hard to get to being under water for decades.

[@rinzo2009]

It's kinda ironic that such a scheme has never been repeated by any nation ever since. I know that KDF had an ulterior motive behind it, but I can't help but be amazed at how the average worker could be inspired to produce more output by the idea of enjoying a vacation that otherwise, he/she could never dream of having.

[@davidjon1553]

Looks like the prototype for they 15 minute cities!!!

[@beckdennis0234]

@@davidjon1553 the only people that like 15 minute cities already live in them.

[@Happymali10]

It wasn't just vacations. The VW Bug started life as the "KdF-Wagen" (Strength through Joy-Car), Wolfsburg was even called the "City of the KDF-Wagen". KdF-Members were meant to get access to automotive mobility through that organization.

[@ashscott6068]

Yeah...never...certainly not by Putin in Mariupol. At least, not until it's finished. Dude is following the Hitler playbook a little too closely. He could get sued for plagiarism.

[@robertbraun7155]

​​@@Happymali10 Strength through joy... Sounds absolutely abysmal doesn't it. Strength through using your hard earned tax dollars to make everyone else from everywhere else happy sounds soooo much better and rewarding doesn't it..

[@inselandy]

Didnt expect a Video from such a big youtuber about Something on my Home island

[@shadowfox009x]

I've been to Prora while it was still a ruin. The museum was already there. It was a very impressive sight and we took tons of photos of the ruins and the beach, although we didn't dare to go inside. That massive ruin on the beautiful beach and with that amazing view. It was chilling in some ways, especially the big hall. Just trying to imagine 20K people staying there and doing everything according to the pre-designed plan. I'm not happy that they've turned it into a modern holiday resort although I can understand why they did it. Rügen is beautiful and by now completely overrun with tourists so there's a lot of money to make. And in the end money rules, doesn't it?

[@davidjernigan7576]

It looks a lot like Soviet apartment buildings.

[@ferociousgumby]

Or a prison built in 1915.

[@jmi5969]

Much, much better than standardized Soviet low-cost buildings. More like a scaled-up German or Austrian interbellum gemeindebau.

[@enjibkk6850]

Not sure how soviet blocks would fare 80+ years after construction and partial abandon

[@ericpear4205]

That's 30's modernist, nothing to do with commie blocks.

[@hampusbrokmann8249]

Yeah

[@LeuntnantStalker]

I used to spend a lot of my childhood at Prora because of my grandparent that are living on Rügen. It's an imposing building with really nice beaches

[@slezyorla]

Ive been born at the Baltic coast, like an hour away further west of Rügen, but I have never ever heard of Prora. Seems like a interesting place to check out for a weekend trip.

[@LeuntnantStalker]

I spend my summers on Rügen with my Grandparents. It's an imposing sight up close

[@inselandy]

Also aus rostock

[@johnnyonthespot4375]

(5:01) A picture of what the NEOM project will look like in 20 years.

[@talldude5841]

Never heard of this before, but its very interesting. You explain in so well. History lives.

[@robertbraun7155]

History is written by the victors. Dig way deeper than this one youtube video. Please..

[@citroniron8861]

Wow. First seeing Dresden and now Prora. Thanks again for bringing such good content to us.

[@russellfitzpatrick503]

This is the one I really wanted to see. Possiby the only Nazi-era structure that could be described as 'untainted' its creation and history (both during and after the war) is fascinating.

[@robertbraun7155]

Been to the Zeppelin fields in Nuremberg? Nothing now is truly "Untainted" even at the home of the rallies in Nuremberg there is still so much there. The building that housed the power substation for the night time rallys you see photos of with large beams of light shining straight up, that building is there and are you sitting down?? It's a Burger King now.. Wirh the shadow type outline of the reichsadler plain as day. I spent several months there with one of my best friends who lives in Bavaria because I am a history buff and the more I learned on my own the more I learned I have been lied to. Went to Dachau. Guess what was across the street? BURGER KING!!!! Across from Dachau!!! Flame broiled Burgers for almost 10 bucks... Want to see some truly unspoiled or unmolested structures from that Era then travel to Berchtesgaden. I was amazed at what is still there virtually untouched. Hitlers train station for his private train called America. It's been plotted and rented out in sections now.. Murals you can see in original ww2 footage only difference is the Hakenkreuz is gone. Still there though.. But travel up the hill to the Berghof site. As you leave the village of Berchtesgaden to head up the mountain by road you will pass a non descript small stone building on your left that was an original guard house. Looks exactly the same just with the eagle removed. As you get almost to the Berghof site again you will see a stone foundation which was the last checkpoint before getting to his house and the Zum Turken. Now the Zum Turken was repaired after the war and looks now as it did then. The small single guard house with the chevron lines is there and the inside is the exact same ans also the same architecture as the Berghof. The curved ceilings. Amazing place and is still very relatively cheap to stay. Also that's.your entrance to the bunkers that ran all through the mountain. I was dumb with my friend and snagged a branch off of the borman tree at the foot of the berghof driveway. Look it up it will explain what it is and the importance. Made it back to the states with my branch tho. Lmao. Then the Eagles nest is still virtually untouched other than it being a tourist attraction. Because you know we don't want to glorify.. Unless we can make money... So yeah. Always been fascinating to me. I am planning one more trip to see a few more things. We should all take away a very important lesson from it. History is undoubtedly written by the victors.. Cheers.

[@tonymcdonnly6492]

I never heard of Pora. Very good presentation. Thanks for educating.

[@jerry2357]

I visited Prora in 2008, when it was mostly still derelict. It was an amazing place.

[@WTDoorley]

I first heard of Prora in a book called "From Peenemünde to Canaveral," an account by a German rocket engineer who worked on the V-2 rocket and came to the United States after the war. One of his first jobs at rocket base was construction management, and to get vitally needed components they were given permission to strip them out of the empty Prora resort. I would like to visit, but I can't imagine myself staying there as a guest. Too creepy.

[@derhafi]

It actually is like staying in a pretty ok youth hostel....Becuse that is what is is today. Nothing creepy about it, besides the distant past.

[@Adiscretefirm]

I bet Rommel could have put some of that concrete and rebar to good use for the Atlantic Wall

[@jamesfracasse8178]

Wasn't this constructioned before war was initiated?

[@DavidSmith-ib5jl]

You might think about a video on the development of the proximity fuse during WWII. The best book on it is probably "The Deadly Fuse" by Ralph B. Baldwin. It made a big difference for the Allies. They developed a vacuum tube electronic fuse which could be shot out of an AA gun.

[@TallerCarnivore]

"Loud Americans in cargo shorts .." 😁 Pretty funny Simon.

[@Zeppathy]

I'd love to see a in depth, hour + long episode on what and how each nation reacted to WW1/WW2 as they progressed. Both the nation's official outward reaction and the civilian reaction. It would be a nice way to display how a nation's leaders' goals don't necessarily reflect their citizens' goals. Would help humanise the people who where just living their lives and got dragged into something bigger than them.

[@jmi5969]

I'm afraid that a fair and honest research will stir too much flak, or even an all-out cancel campaign in real life. Too many things that people don't want to admit even now.

[@BTScriviner]

@@jmi5969 You mean that it might show how many Americans, for example, actually were in favor of fascism (like Charles Lindbergh)?

[@jmi5969]

@@BTScriviner US is the least concern. It's mostly about "old" Europe and Eastern Europe. Things like the holocaust in Lithuania.

[@black_hand78]

@@BTScriviner good ole Henry Ford was a facist. There were A LOT of wealthy and political families that supported Hitler. But it wasn’t just in the US. If I remember correctly, one of the presidential candidates at the time was even in favor of helping the Nazis and almost won the election. If you want to go all “conspiracy theorist,” all the world governments, corporations, and banks still support the Nazis and carry out their plans in secret. Look up “Hillary Clinton and DHHS infect minority communities with Syphilis.”

[@thefirm4606]

Try the Great War on YT. I’ve never watched a better blow by blow elsewhere

[@jimtalbott9535]

This building has always reminded me of the Buckner building, in Whittier, Alaska. Seems like a good building for a “Side-projects” special?

[@firsttaylor4607]

That is hands down a really really interesting town Whittier

[@jmi5969]

I saw it once, from the sea, and the first impression was, "wow it's not that big as the internets say...". Perhaps the extreme length made it look lower then it is (it's only 6 floors tall), or maybe it's just the fact that I lived all my live in urban high-rise. The building where I live now is only around 300 meters long, but in terms of volume it can easily swallow half of the Prora.

[@JeffDeWitt]

It sounds like what is happening to Prora now is pretty much the best possible outcome. I also now know why the VW Beetle was originally called the KdF Wagen.

[@flopunkt3665]

It was first the KdF Wagen then they switched the name to Volkswagen.

[@BengtHansves]

I stayed at the Youth Hostel - DJH Jugendherberg Prora - in 2017. A sea-view is very very valuable in the almost land-locked Germany and the prices for the renovated apartments are very very high ! In DDR (GDR) there were a similar aproach on the island of Usedom. Only good workers were assigned a permission to one of the campings at the shores of the Baltic with white sand...

[@bettyswallocks6411]

Greetings from Vienna, where we have the 1.2 Km (0.72 mile) long Karl Marx-Hof. It is one of the worlds longest apartment buildings, begun in 1927 and continuously and contiguously occupied since completion.

[@haki3353]

What an amazing idea of a resort

[@JorgeLausell]

Interesting. Thanks. Got me to think on the fact that KdF was started while everyone else was basking in the great depression. You know, that period in time that Germany was supposed to have been overly punished by the treaty that was an armistice.

[@cv990a4]

The original name of the VW Beetle was the KdF-Wagen...

[@CJ_102]

What a tribe. What a clubhouse.

[@Henchman1977]

What did you say about my cargo shorts lol!

[@1968konrad]

Explained not bad! Greetings from germany, ben there, its a nice place compared to other huge marine hotel located around the world.

[@menschgebliebenerunmensch4534]

Kraft durch Freude👌🏻

[@PhelippeMitsu98]

The first time I saw this installation was in a Biggles Comic; Wotan Sword. Those novels are really interesting to read if you are into spies and wars. Really do recommend them

[@HeliophobicRiverman]

Got that comic on the shelf beside me, good stuff those Biggles comics, pretty accurate artwork across the board, from buildings to vehicles to small-arms.

[@martinstallard2742]

1:24 paradise for pennies 5:23 strength through joy 9:02 life during wartime 13:08 modern times

[@thomasmcmahon9302]

You can still see where some of the underground complexes here lead into the sea. Where U-boats would have maybe come in and out. You can also search for amber on the beach there

[@p3chv0gel22]

Tbf you can search for amber on any beach in that Area

[@AtheistOrphan]

Why would U-boats visit a holiday resort?

[@enisra_bowman]

@@p3chv0gel22 or white phosphorus from discarded bombs, sooo be wary

[@griffinmckenzie7203]

@@AtheistOrphan Why would regular boats?

[@AtheistOrphan]

@@griffinmckenzie7203 - Er, boats can be used for recreational purposes and are quite common at holiday resorts. Take a look at Monaco harbour for instance, you’ll be amazed!

[@CS-qy4qy]

I often wonder what the people from England that took part in WWII would think about what London looks like today.

[@indiekiddrugpatrol3117]

They'd be disappointed

[@marcusmanchester7095]

I'm sorry, I laughed a little too hard at "And then Hitler did the decent thing and shot Hitler."

[@74_Green]

7:41 LOL

[@GrievousReborn]

The Soviet Union also made holiday resorts are now abandoned you should do a video on one

[@jamesfracasse8178]

Or about your life

[@owenshebbeare2999]

James May did a good article on this in his 'Cars of the People' show.

[@MichaelZieschang]

And the handrails in the reconstructed estates are the same like they were back in the days.

[@chez0102]

Thank you for using freedom units!

[@JoseMartinez-yr2wq]

Simon if you wear black on black with your head looks like it is just floating in the wide shots

[@curtisthomas2670]

Did this influence the Saudi Arabian linear city project, The Line, in Neom???

[@malachichampion]

I had just finished inhaling a whole ass bong rip when he said "unfunny Charlie Chaplin lookalike" RIP me, I guess

[@dennismacdonald2003]

Ty Simon

[@p3chv0gel22]

Is it weird, that the First thing, that went through my brain, when i saw the subject of this video, was "Ah yes, Rügen. Would be a nice place for my next holiday"? I mean, i've been to that Island a lot of times

[@Flies2FLL]

I thought he was talking about Mar-A-Lago....

[@Castragroup]

Do you support ukrane?

[@Flies2FLL]

@@Castragroup Abso-Fucking LOOTLEY!

[@Flies2FLL]

@@Castragroup Slava Ukrainia!

[@jaredl.822]

I would like to learn more about the Stasi and its end with unification.

[@mikeyoung9810]

It always surprises me that people with power and money who are in positions of leading a nation have no problem with making their lives better even at the expense of those they are supposed to serve. Or lead.

[@jsvideos2261]

Hi Simon!

[@Korschtal]

Modern Germany isn't a Utopia, but it's been a very good place for us: I migrated her 20 years ago from the UK and I've had opportunities I'd never have experienced in my home country. It's also turned out to be a great place for our mixed race family to live and be accepted.

[@dbach1025]

Trying to imagine Simon sans beard. Ok, back to the video.....

[@rdspam]

See his early videos.

[@breathestrongcycling3672]

photoshop his head upside down?😂 🤔

[@tsbrownie]

I was there, but it was right after the East fell and it was closed off. I went on to Peenemunde instead. It was OK.

[@thomasbehning461]

Seems like a good idea

[@peternystrom921]

I always think about Surf Ninjas when i hear about Prora.

[@paulmeredith2037]

Hi Simon can you please do a video Sir Nicholas George Winton MBE was named a British Hero of the Holocaust by the British Government. Winton was awarded the Order of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, Fourth Class, by the Czech President Václav Havel in 1998. he was a British humanitarian who helped to rescue jewish children who were at risk from Nazi Germany just months before the start of World War II he saved 669 children all of them would’ve probably have been killed by the Nazis if he hadn’t got them out please do a video on this man thank you Paul.

[@jackiebinns6205]

Hum ? Never heard of him

[@paulmeredith2037]

@@jackiebinns6205 he never wanted to be known we only found out what he did, because his wife was looking for Christmas decorations and found all the documents in their attic. afterwards used the rest of his life for charity work and just said a job needed doing and he did it. Have a Look this on KZbin (Story of Nicholas Winton BBC That's life - Short version) it is brilliant

[@nevermindmeijustinjectedaw9988]

feels like this had 3 ends....just drags on and on coulda been shortened for sure

[@griffinmckenzie7203]

It could have, I suppose. It would have been much worse if it did.

[@ColeDedhand]

If you like this you'll LOVE The Line in Saudi Arabia. And yes I know you already did an episode on it.

[@etzool]

"Loud Americans in cargo shorts"?! I resemble that remark! Get off my lawn!

[@flitsertheo]

You "resent" that remark I guess. Anyway, "loud Americans" is a tautology.

[@codyfletcher5460]

Thanks for the FootBall Field math history Daddy

[@carsinruin6102]

I imagine the Baltic Sea is very cold.

[@tomholroyd7519]

Nice. Football fields. Is that Australian football? I have no idea if that's longer than a cricket pitch

[@hansulrichboning8551]

Little historic irony :The guy who transferred parts of the complex into luxury-apartments is the son of a former east- german communist artist/singer.

[@6ix901]

“For you Americans out there” as if brits don’t also use miles😂

[@megaotstoy]

do not judge it from the modern point of view... in 1930s, the decade of Great Depression Prora was a Roosevelt's scale project, absolutely unprecedented social policy initiative

[@bryanparkhurst17]

Yes, thank you Simon. Us Americans appreciate when you give us real measurements.

[@owenshebbeare2999]

Well, your cave-man units do give us some entertainment.

[@aljazair71]

sir, please talk about ASROC missiles belonging to the USA Navy.... what are the advantages and how are they applied... thank you, sir

[@zzzzzsleeping]

Does look like a wave barrier instead of dream vacation establishment

[@philipminns3933]

I've been on holiday there. You failed to mention the most horrifying aspect of this place. The mosquitoes. I mean, I've seen some mozzies in my time, but nothing the size and robustness of these monsters. They can puncture you through three layers of clothing (including one of denim) and are impervious to sprays. At least we can take the comfort of knowing that the Nazis would have been bitten ceaselessly the whole time they were there.

[@ABC-48483]

Love these videos, Germany in the 1940s had some bold plans

[@jghogg6570]

Simon have you or the team considered a video on Project Icarus?

[@hummel6364]

5:38 DUDE THERE ARE LITERALLY TWO HUNG PEOPLE IN THAT IMAGE

[@owenshebbeare2999]

*hanged.

[@theBlankScroll]

Man when hitler throws a party, he builds a 4 mile long Shawshank prison.

[@crstothard]

Hey, what's wrong with cargo shorts?! :) Greetings from NYC!

[@ivanlazarevic78]

When you see this you start to appreciate more our blue mediteranean sea and climate.Every Adriatic coast town, or Aegean coast is so much better holiday place than this.

[@dgs3002]

Interesting how KdF and British Leyland have similar logos

[@virtualworldsbyloff]

Baltic Sea - As cold as the Third Reich itself

[@batonnetdecannelle]

Nope. It's shallow and decently warm, actually. Must have been about 17 to 19 degrees in Hitler's days. Nowadays regularly above 20, in good summers up to 23. Nothing to scare a Brit nor a German from having a nice swim!

[@thestevenjaywaymusic7775]

Quite sad really.

[@denisecorzette1676]

👋 Simon

[@J_McPhearsom]

10:58 “when Hitler finally did the decent thing and shot Hitler” - lol i do enjoy the creative ways creators get around the blanket censor on saying s********

[@t95kush27]

The last minute and a half is almost exactly a rip of what Hunter S Thompson said about the american dream just slightly rephrased . The writer must have read some of his work!

[@bajavolvo]

Does sound kinda cool though

[@pyromania1018]

Please do a video on Hitler's plans for Linz.

[@whiteumbrella9344]

First of all, Germany is more ashamed and wanting this legacy to be gone more than anyone else on this planet so yes it is the past and lets move on. Second, This is a sturdy building in a beautiful place. It would be a waste to let it rot. Use it! It was never used by bad people. It was abandoned so no bad memories. Use it, renovate it, make it something good. We only have so much planet and we are wasting so much of it. Move on, the past is the past, and lets make something good in a beautiful place.

[@frankgesuele6298]

I saw this on the History Channel during their Project Nazi series.

[@BillCameronWC]

In a way it looks a little like the modern dystopian idea of 15 minute cities, for example the ginormous excrescence apparently planned in the eastern part of Saudi Arabia. It seems that no one really ever learns from history, instead it’s soon forgotten and the same errors repeated over and over again 😔.

[@twocvbloke]

It is actually quite an ironic about the controversy in putting the structures to use, seemingly by young people having a blast in some nazi-cast off, a symbol of what went on in the 30s, a reminder of what atrocites took place, and yet, there was that other symbol, another of that madman's dreams, originally the KDF Wagen, better known as, the Beetle, and people loved that thing, for some reason...

[@sbccmichaelkelly]

Oh, 50 football fields, now you’ve made sense.

[@davidanalyst671]

Its north germany. Are you sure its picturesque? picturesque compared to simon's england?

[@theprofessionalfence-sitter]

Rügen is basically the white cliffs of Dover with more trees. Certainly nice enough.

[@johneod1250]

as a resident for 23 Jears, and a neighbor who been to the nva times back 35 Jears, a poor interpretation of the use.

[@whatever8282828]

What's wrong with cargo shorts?

[@owenshebbeare2999]

Nothing...if you are American. Honestly, along with socks/sandals and loud nasally twang, makes you lot easy to spot.

[@whatever8282828]

@@owenshebbeare2999 oh you are too cruel!

[@flitsertheo]

@@owenshebbeare2999 Don't forget the baseball cap.

[@jamesbodnarchuk3322]

Ended up in Plora after I got my toes blown off at Stalingrad😅

[@loyalopposition-us]

Thank you for converting kilometers to miles for the benefit of those countries that have walked on the moon. It's a small thing, but much appreciated.

[@I.amthatrealJuan]

Ironically the country whose space agency used the rest of the world's units to go there

[@griffinmckenzie7203]

@@I.amthatrealJuan Incorrect, but pop off I guess.

[@rdspam]

@@I.amthatrealJuan NASA didn’t convert to SI until the 1990’s. The well-known Mars Climate Orbiter failure, due to unit confusion, was in 1999. Apollo was all customary/imperial other than some required SI units in software, used internally but converted to customary units for display.

[@michel6587]

Ghost Island

[@jetsons101]

I never would have guessed that nazis had a Holiday Resort with a "Wave Pool?"

[@Mavisdundundunnnmanston]

"When hitler finally did the decent thing and shot hitler" might be one of my favorite lines of all time.

[@jinz0]

pretty sure they invented the 5 day working week and holidays for workers

[@ranjithpowell6791]

It looks really good. I would’ve gone there