James May did a series for the BBC, "Cars of the People" a few years ago that went into the history of some of the Nazi KDF programs based around savings plans to allow the Germans to save for what would eventually be the Volkswagen Beetle, a radio... and also trips to Prora.
One of the more interesting tidbits of automotive history, along with oft-forgotten plans (in this day an age) of the third Reich.
I was recently talking politics with a coworker and his jaw dropped when I mentioned that the nazis were extreme left. You could see his world shattering at the realization that socialism and racism are not mutually exclusive.
Frankly, "extreme left" seems far off. But I also find personally that whatever "left" and "right" mean nowadays cannot be extrapolated past 20 years or so. Prior to the 20th century, otherwise "right-wing" governments were perfectly comfortable with pursing interventionist policies, because "right-wing" back then meant pretty much "whatever will keep the monarch in power", and entailed a respect for tradition. Bismarck, for example, didn't see any problem in creating the first social welfare system in the world so long as it politically undermined the socialists and it made the monarchy popular [0]. The overwhelmingly mercantilist policies of the Ancien Régime, seeking to impose price regulations in order to improve it's trade balance or to keep the monarch popular (one of the possible causes of the French Revolution was the havoc created by the deregulation of the grain market by the classical liberal Turgot [1]), is another example. It's only during the 20th century that the left-right distinction seems to have mapped itself onto overwhelmingly economic rather than cultural issues.
I was similarly stunned that North Korea was democratic.
By typical definitions, the Nazis were not "extreme left". "Socialist" in the name preceded a dramatic shift in values (and of course they were very specifically anti-communist).
I'm pretty sure this is old news in that the locals recently defeated the plan in a referendum.
It's also not the first attempt... One of my earliest memories is a trip there a few years after the wall fell when my father was involved in a similar venture – that also went nowhere.
"Prime" is relative – the Baltic sea is rather cold and the only reason I sometimes go there is because it's just about two hours and 30 Euros away. When I have more than a weekend, a flight to the Mediterranean is preferred. Plus this is on a island and that'd be another hour or so (ferry or detour).
Berlin is probably the only city for which it's a somewhat attractive destination, but I don't see the rich people here going for it. Flying to italy take only a bit longer, or, if it needs to be close, there are quite a few opulent estates from the 16th to early-20th century within an hour of the city center, quite often with direct access to one of the many lakes.
Well, this is the Baltic Sea we're talking about. The average European tourist wanting sea and sun prefers the Mediterranean (i.e. Spain, Greece, Italy, Cyprus, Turkey, ..) -- considerably warmer, plus cheaper/easier to get to for most people. For Germans there are plenty of other seaside resorts in the country. (Europe is only crowded in some places: large parts are not at all crowded - or even inhabited...)
One of the more interesting tidbits of automotive history, along with oft-forgotten plans (in this day an age) of the third Reich.
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x24ifq1_james-may-s-cars-of...