As of: February 23, 2024, 7:02 p.m
By: Ulrike Hagen
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Violent dispute over the cult Baltic Sea campsite in Prerow.
Rainbow AG's lease expired in 2023.
They refuse to vacate and send campers bills.
Prerow – “Holiday in the middle of the Western Pomerania Lagoon Landscape National Park.
Here you can experience nature untouched and pristine, like almost nowhere else,” says the website of the previous operator, Regenbogen AG, about what was once the most beautiful Baltic Sea campsite in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania in Prerow.
But chaos rages here.
The lease expired at the end of 2023 and an eviction lawsuit is pending against the operators at the Rostock regional court.
They object and continue to demand rent from the campers, who have been worn down by the dispute.
Caravans are parked on the partially submerged campsite on Fischland-Darß-Zingst.
© Jens Büttner/dpa/archive image
Chaos at the Baltic Sea campsite continues: eviction notice and frustrated campers
Some of the most popular campsites in Germany are located on the Baltic Sea.
For over 70 years now, and not just since the camping boom in Germany, tens of thousands of holidaymakers have been drawn to Prerow every year - the ultimate nudist paradise in GDR times - to camp in the middle of a fantastic dune landscape.
But the traditional spot on Prerow's northern beach has been part of the Western Pomerania Lagoon Landscape National Park since 1990.
Its continued existence was therefore secured in the National Park Ordinance by limiting the number of parking spaces.
“By 2032, the total of 1,200 parking spaces should be reduced to just under 800,” explains Bjørn Schwake, chairman of the Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania Environmental and Nature Conservation Foundation, in an interview with
kreiszeitung.de
from IPPEN.DIGITAL.
Since 2022, the foundation has owned a large part of the dune area in the Western Pomerania National Park, which was previously federally owned.
Fierce dispute over the dream campsite in Prerow on the Baltic Sea.
Rainbow AG's lease expired at the end of 2023.
But she refuses to vacate and sends campers bills.
© Imago/Bildfunk MV
The previous operator's lease expired in 2023: the state files eviction proceedings against Regenbogen
“These requirements in the spirit of national park protection were part of the transfer agreement between the federal government and our foundation and led to a discounted purchase by our foundation,” says Schwake.
A statement from the foundation states: “In the past, development of the campsite in line with national park standards and compliance with European nature conservation law could not be guaranteed to the necessary extent.
With the takeover of large parts of the area by the state of MV and the state foundation, it is fulfilling its legal obligations and will gradually bring the protection and usage interests closer together.
The first step: The lease agreement with Regenbogen AG was allowed to expire at the end of 2023.
“It is a clear contract that cannot be changed from a formal legal point of view,” notes Schwake.
But the owner refused to vacate.
The foundation then filed an eviction notice on February 2nd.
Dispute over campsite – sharp criticism from the mayor of Born
Gerd Scharmberg, mayor of the municipality of Born, where the camping area is located, criticized heavily: “The state's approach, now, so ad hoc, in the middle of the season, for example in July last year, to make a decision from January “Having a new operator and not creating an orderly transition is a big concern for us,” he told
NDR
.
The financing of the spa business is therefore on shaky ground.
Schwake rejects the accusation: “We offered Rainbow AG an orderly transition, of course with the binding promise to vacate the place at the end of 2024.
The offer was rejected.”
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So now the eviction notice for the currently 22 hectares of camping area that belongs to the foundation.
Meanwhile, stand up
The new tenant Camper's Friend is in the starting blocks on the way to “nature-friendly operation” of the well-known campsite near Prerow in the Western Pomerania Lagoon Area National Park.
This was awarded after a selection process by the state, as announced in a statement from the foundation in January.
Future operator assures: “Every long-term camper will still have a parking space”
“Camper's Friend has guaranteed that every long-term camper who wants to stay there will continue to get a parking space,” said the foundation's chairman.
But despite the expired lease and a new tenant, the campers' happiness for the next season is up in the air.
Because the operator is resisting the eviction, sending invoices for 2024 - and threatening long-term campers with losing their places.
Rainbow continues to collect rent from campers: “Those who have paid don’t need to be afraid”
“We will not fight the dispute on the backs of the weakest,” assures Schwake, “those who have paid to Regenbogen need not be afraid of having to pay a second time.”
How long the legal dispute over the “rainbow camp” will last is still unclear.
Rainbow AG has contradicted the eviction notice - and outlines a threatening scenario.
Previous tenant Rainbow objects to the lawsuit and predicts “unsustainable conditions”
“If Rainbow AG were actually forced by a court order to give up the area previously leased from the foundation, an untenable situation would arise,” the company explains in its press release.
The long-term campers could possibly leave their cars on the pitches, but they would no longer be Rainbow AG customers.
Because the necessary infrastructure would be located on another area leased by the company: “If the long-term campers no longer belong to the Rainbow Camp, we can no longer provide our services,” says the company.
Schwake contradicts this: Since a new survey in 2014, it has been clear that the majority of the infrastructure is located on the foundation's premises.
“Not the cable runs.
But you don’t turn off your neighbor’s water just because the supply line runs across your own property.”