The building in Braunau am Inn where Adolf Hitler was born on 20 April 1889 now houses the local police and the district command. The new centre was inaugurated on 22 July, after years of disputes over what to do with a house that had become a landmark for extremists and Nazi nostalgists.
Hitler's family lived there for only a few months, but over the years the symbolic value of the address has overtaken the biographical one. Far-right visitors would photograph themselves in front of the façade, leave flowers, and pocket stones as souvenirs. In 2024 four German citizens were caught laying white roses and posing for photographs; one woman also gave the Nazi salute.
Austria had been renting the building since 1972 to prevent its misuse. After the last welfare organisation moved out, in 2011, the house stood empty. The dispute with the owner ended in 2017 with the state's expropriation of the property. Demolition and conversion into a museum were both considered, but an expert commission recommended administrative use and alterations that would make the building less recognisable.
The works, costing roughly 20 million euros, changed the colour of the façade, replaced the arched windows and modified the roof. The removed materials were disposed of in secret so they would not become relics. Outside, however, the stone commemorating the victims and urging that fascism never be repeated was left in place.
The Interior Ministry argues that the police represent the opposite of what that place came to symbolise. Critics fear the transformation erases too much of the historical context. Austria's compromise was to put inside the house the very thing that should keep its worst visitors away: a police station.
