Editing Prora (section)

== Usage ==
===World War II===
During the Allied bombing campaign, many people from [[Hamburg]] took refuge in one of the housing blocks, and later refugees from the east of Germany were housed there.<ref name="dw" /> By the end of the war, these buildings housed female auxiliary personnel for the [[Luftwaffe]].{{citation needed|date=September 2023}}

=== Cold War===
In 1945 the [[Soviet Army]] took control of the region and established a military base at Prora.<ref name="dw" /> The Soviet Army's 2nd Artillery Brigade occupied block 5 of Prora from 1945 to 1955.  The Soviet military then stripped all usable materials from the building.{{citation needed|date=June 2012}} In the late 1940s two of the housing blocks{{snd}}one at the North and one at the South{{snd}}were demolished and the remains  were mostly removed.

In the late 1950s, the East German military rebuilt several of the buildings. Since the buildings had been stripped to the bare brick in the late 1940s, most of the exterior and interior finish that can now be seen was done under East German control. After the formation of the [[East Germany|German Democratic Republic]]'s (GDR's) [[National People's Army]] in 1956, the buildings became a restricted military area housing several East German Army units.  The most prominent were the elite [[40. Fallschirmjägerbataillon Willi Sänger]] (40th Parachute Battalion "Willi Sänger") which was housed in block 5 from 1960 to 1982.  Block 4 on the north side was used for urban combat training by the Parachute Battalion and others. Large sections remain as ruins to this day.{{when|date=November 2014}} 

Also housed in the building from 1982 to 1990 was the East German Army Construction Battalion "Mukran", where conscientious objectors served as noncombatant [[Construction soldier|Construction Soldiers]] ([[w:de:Bausoldat|Bausoldaten]]) to meet their military service obligation. A part of the building also served as the East German Army's "[[Walter Ulbricht]]" convalescent home.

===Unified Germany ===
After [[German reunification]] in 1990, the National People's Army was absorbed into the West German [[Bundeswehr]], that took over the building. Initially, consideration was given to demolishing the buildings, but it was later given landmark protection and a tax break offered to developers to renovate it.<ref name="businessweek" /> Parts of the building were used from 1990 to 1992 by the Military Technical School of the Bundeswehr.  From 1992 to 1994 a part of the building was used to house asylum seekers from the Balkans.

Beginning in early 1993, the facility was empty and the buildings were subject to decay and vandalism.  An exception to this was Block 3, Prora Center, which from 1995 to 2005 housed a variety of museums, special exhibitions, and a gallery.  Between 1993 and 1999 the site served as one of the largest youth hostels in Europe.

Since 2000, the Documentation Centre Prora has been located at the southern edge of the fairground buildings. This center documents the construction and use history of the building.  Discussed here are both the background of the project and its appropriation for Nazi propaganda.