The controversial renovation of the building where Adolf Hitler was born in Braunau am Inn, Austria, has culminated in its new role as a police headquarters. Starting July 22, 2025, the local police station and district police command moved into Salzburger Vorstadt 15, the address where Hitler was born in April 1889.
Hitler, who started World War II and was primarily responsible for the Holocaust, lived in the house only briefly as an infant. The building has had a turbulent history: after the Nazi annexation of Austria in 1938, it became a Nazi cultural center; after the war, it served as a library, school, and workshop for disabled people.
In 2016, the Austrian government expropriated the property to prevent it from becoming a neo-Nazi pilgrimage site. A commission recommended using it for a social service organization or government office. After a €20 million ($23 million) renovation, the building was transformed into a police station with a deliberately understated facade.
The decision has sparked debate. A 2023 survey found only 6% of respondents supported the police station conversion. Eveline Doll, spokesperson for the local citizens' initiative Diskurs Hitlerhaus, said: "A unique historical opportunity was missed to use the birth house of history's greatest mass murderer in a sustainable and historically responsible way."
Oskar Deutsch, president of the Jewish Community of Vienna, defended the choice, stating that a police station in a democratic state governed by the rule of law is appropriate for combating neo-Nazi activity. Historian Oliver Rathkolb noted that the new design will discourage Hitler admirers from taking selfies in front of the building.
Austria has long grappled with its Nazi past. A 2025 survey found that 39% of Austrians agree it is time to "draw a line" under confronting the country's Nazi history. The renovated building features no information plaque, but a memorial stone from the Mauthausen concentration camp remains in place, despite a recommendation to move it.
Source: www.dw.com