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🇮🇱 Israel /Crime & Justice

Hitler's birthplace begins new life as a police station

From Jerusalem Post · () English

Summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News From a news agency Outcome reported
  • Adolf Hitler's birthplace in Braunau am Inn, Austria, has been converted into a police station to prevent it from becoming a neo-Nazi pilgrimage site.
  • The building, previously privately owned, was compulsorily purchased by Austria in 2017 and underwent remodeling.
  • The conversion aims to strip the site of its association with Hitler, with local officials reporting only isolated incidents of neo-Nazi interest.

The building where Adolf Hitler was born in Braunau am Inn, Austria, officially begins its new life as a police station on Wednesday. Austria's government hopes this conversion will prevent the site from becoming a pilgrimage destination for neo-Nazis.

The aim was to prevent any association with Adolf Hitler, so as to strip it of that mystique.

— Stephan MlczochHead of the Austrian interior ministry's history department, explaining the purpose of the conversion.

After years of debate surrounding the large, traditional terraced house, Austria compulsorily purchased it in 2017. In 2019, plans were announced to remodel it into a police station. The building was previously privately owned and had housed a charity for people with disabilities. A rock from the Mauthausen concentration camp, inscribed with "Never again fascism," remains in place outside, serving as the only pre-existing marker of historical significance. The only addition to the facade is a sign reading "Police."

Stephan Mlczoch, head of the Austrian interior ministry's history department, stated that the aim was "to prevent any association with Adolf Hitler, so as to strip it of that mystique." During the Nazi era, the "Fuehrer birth house" served as an art museum. Hitler himself lived there only for a few weeks in 1889 before his family relocated. While passers-by occasionally stop to take pictures, their views on Hitler are generally unknown. Local officials report only isolated incidents involving visitors, fewer than in the past.

I think on the whole the people of Braunau have accepted it and can live with it.

— Johannes WaidbacherMayor of Braunau am Inn, commenting on the local community's reaction to the conversion.

Mayor Johannes Waidbacher commented that "on the whole the people of Braunau have accepted it and can live with it." He was part of a commission that recommended the building be used for either a charitable or official administrative purpose. Ultimately, a charity's presence was deemed too accessible to the public. Waidbacher expressed cautious optimism, stating, "I think it isn't a bad approach, but whether it works as we all hope and expect, we'll have to wait and see."

I think it isn't a bad approach, but whether it works as we all hope and expect, we'll have to wait and see.

— Johannes WaidbacherMayor of Braunau am Inn, expressing cautious optimism about the project's success.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by Jerusalem Post. Summarized and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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