Almost 1000 sq km in area, Rügen is bigger than Phuket or Singapore, with great geological and geographical diversity. The chalk cliffs of the Unesco- heritage Jasmund National Park are some 70 million years old. The many peninsulas and lagoons, the legacy of several ice ages, give it a peculiar shape and feel, and the fertile soil provides lush wheat, cabbage and rapeseed fields. The historical architecture is picturesque, the piers majestic, the coast dramatic.
Inhabited since the Stone Age, the island has a fascinating history. The Danish kingdom managed to wrest control from Germanic and Slavic tribes in the 12th century, but in subsequent centuries it was absorbed by Pomerania, the Roman Empire, Sweden, France during the Napoleonic wars, Prussia in the 19th century and finally Germany. The Nazi government wanted Rügen to become the destination of the working classes, and in the 1930s they began construction on the world’s biggest resort in Prora, a 5km-long colossus along the beach that would have accommodated 20,000 summer visitors. The start of World War II in 1939 halted construction, and the project was never entirely finished. A 3km-long stretch of five building blocks stills exists to this day, and most of the blocks have been renovated in recent years. Affordable accommodation arrived at last.
After the war the island was administered by the Soviet victors, and when Germany was divided it became part of the communist east. Only after reunification in 1990 did the island regain some of its former prominence, and its heritage sites and dramatic landscapes have become better known. Now it hosts visitors from around the world, and its tumultuous history and various legacies are part of the attraction.
