Free Republic

Ruins from giant Nazi beach resort sold in Germany Thu Sep 23, 1:11 PM ET ROSTOCK, Germany (AFP) - Ruins from a massive vacation resort built by the Nazis on the Baltic island Ruegen were sold at auction to an anonymous buyer for 625,000 euros (768,000 dollars). The concrete-block lodgings, built in the 1930s to accommodate some 20,000 people under the Nazis' Kraft Durch Freude (Strength Through Joy) leisure program, stretches 4.5 kilometers (2.8 miles) along one of Germany's most beautiful sandy beaches. The federal government had been trying to unload the structure, known as the Colossus of the Baltic...

Hundreds of 1,000-year-old silver coins, rings, pearls and bracelets linked to the era of Danish King Harald Gormsson have been found on the eastern German island of Ruegen in the Baltic Sea. A single silver coin was first found in January by two amateur archaeologists, one of them a 13-year-old boy, in a field near the village of Schaprode. The state archaeology office then became involved and the entire treasure was uncovered by experts over the weekend, the Mecklenburg-West Pomerania state archaeology office said Monday.