Nazi Resort Finds Second Life as Luxury Real Estate

In Rügen, an idyllic island in northeast Germany, a dark history has been replaced by luxury living with seaside views.

The area is home to lagoons, peninsulas, numerous beaches and, famously, beeches. The island, Germany’s largest, is a geological cousin to Dover, England, and shares that region’s most celebrated feature—stunning white chalk cliffs.

It was here, on a slender heath separating the lagoon of Kleiner Jasmunder Bodden from the Baltic Sea that Adolf Hitler commissioned Prora, a beachfront holiday resort for the Nazi faithful.

Designed for the recreation, relaxation and indoctrination of up to 20,000 party members, construction on the well-positioned property began in 1936. It ended in 1939, at the onset of World War II, but not before eight six-story blocks of incomplete, concrete housing, stretching 2.8 miles before beautiful Baltic Sea views, had been completed.

The Colossus of Prora, as it came to be known, languished through the fall of the Third Reich and subsequent Communist-controlled East Germany, eventually becoming something of a tourist attraction for architecturally curious, historically minded, and adventuresome travelers.

(Full disclosure: This reporter’s wife, while living in Germany as an ex-pat in the early Aughts, traveled to Prora with friends and explored the Colossus. She described the scene as "dilapidated and spooky.")

It has remained largely untouched until very recently.

Germany’s record low interest rates and healthy economy have brought holiday homes back to the nation’s consciousness, and Prora, an unintentional monument to a dark period in the country’s past, is ripe for development.

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"It is basically the last new complex in Germany where you have direct access to such a gorgeous beach," said Wurner Jung, a sales representative of Irisgerd Real Estate, recently told The Times of Israel.

The Times reports that Irisgerd purchased a block of the former Colossus in 2012 for $3.1 million and has spent about $98.5 million in renovations on the project they have named New Prora. The residence will consist of 270 luxury apartments, ranging from around $390,000 for a ground floor unit to $727,000 a penthouse with seaside views.

But how do you sell a property with such a problematic past? The passage of time is an important factor, experts say.

Roy Condrey, founder and co-CEO of DiedInHouse.com, a site that reveals the hidden, and possibly morbid, histories of homes across America, believes that "stigmatized properties" often turn out to be great investments.

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Noting that residences that were the location of a death often depreciate in value by 25% or more, Mr. Condrey explained "it seems like these properties do appreciate after about 15 to 20 years. Seems the older the [stigmatizing event] the more comfortable people are, but within a 10-year period or so people are ‘Eh, I think I’ll move on if I have another option."

Buyers not shaken by a stigmatized home’s history stand to make a nice profit.

Whether it’s the passage of time, or simply a stunning location, the developments at Prora have not been hurting for buyers—95% of New Prora has been sold, according to the Times. And it’s no doubt that everyone buying in knows a bit about its past.

Those who wish to experience Prora’s new life as a luxury vacation destination needn’t wait any longer.

This summer saw the launch of Prora Solitaire, a high-end hotel with hipster sensibilities, apartment-like residences and direct access to Baltic Sea beachfront that only a block of Prora property could offer.