Tourists are being offered the chance to experience life as a prisoner at a hotel on the site of a former Nazi jail.

For a bargain £38, visitors to the four-star Hotel Stadt in the German town of Hameln can attend special "Prussian prison parties".

Some of the treats on offer include complimentary striped shorts and guards holding fake weapons, with guests only allowed to use the toilets if they stand to attention first.

The hotel, described on its website as "an oasis for those seeking relaxation", was opened on the site of a disused German jail, although this is not mentioned in its online history information.

The Nazis began using it in the mid-1930s and it remained operational until the end of the Holocaust. According to a German historian, more than 470 people died in the Hameln jail.

The hotel's manager told German newspaper Der Spiegel that they were not "damaging" or hurting anybody with the specialist events. She said: "There will always be people who object to what others do."

The hotel, which opened in 1993, also hosts weddings and conferences and offers spa facilities.

Germans are legally prohibited from celebrating Nazis rule by displaying swastikas and other Nazi symbols.