Ulrich Busch to revamp nazi resort on Rügen island

Ulrich Busch, the son of a famous 1920s cabaret performer and anti-nazi campaigner, is to revamp the Nazi resort on Rügen island after being boarded up for more than a decade. Along with another investor Busch plans to revamp the concrete hulk into holiday flats. After Hitler came to power it was part of his Strength through Happiness (Kraft durch Freude) programme, one of the first mass tourism ventures. He chose a four-mile stretch on the Baltic island Rügen to build the world's largest vacation complex. Eerily not one holidaymaker ever set foot at Prora as the project was abandoned because of the outbreak of World War II. Building work for the complex, which still needs the green light from Germany’s budget committee, should start next year. About 450 holiday apartments will measure about 80sq metres – spacious compared with original plans which chopped the six-storey block into 10,000 units, squeezing two beds, a sofa, a cupboard and a wash basin into rooms of 12sq metres.