Even the Nazis, after a hard day of blitzkrieging, needed a place to vacation.
With this in mind, Hitler commissioned a holiday retreat to be built for members of the Third Reich on the (former) East German island of Rügen.
Like so many of the Fuehrer’s little projects, this one was also never completed; RAF carpet-bombings have a way of doing that.
But now, after standing empty since the fall of the Berlin Wall, investors have purchased the site and plan to renovate it as a holiday destination for the 21st century.
Ulrich Busch, the main investor in the project, promises to acknowledge its history in a tasteful way during reconstruction. “We want holidaymakers to be able to learn about the past,” he told the press. Busch’s father spent time imprisoned by the SS so any pro-Nazi accusations that would normally be leveled at anyone trying to resurrect this site have been very few.
Controversy over such projects is common in Germany. Last summer we reported about the Hitler Hotel in the Bavarian Alps which recently opened. Neo-Nazis have kept their distance, however, probably because they’ve been unable to afford the expensive room rates. Let’s hope the same holds true for the project in Rügen.