Hitler's house converted into a police station in Austria... fears of Nazis flocking to it

 

Hitler's house

Hitler's house converted into a police station in Austria... fears of Nazis flocking to it

The conversion of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler's house in Austria into a police station is nearing completion, but this new use of the house, intended mainly to keep Nazi enthusiasts away from it, continues to draw criticism.

Sybille Troblemeier, a 53-year-old employee, says that turning the house into a police station is a repurposing that could have mixed results, going so far as to say that it is a "double-edged sword," and believes that "it could have been used differently."

This building dates back to the 17th century, and it is where the German dictator was born on April 20, 1889. It is located on a shopping street in the city of Braunau am Inn in Austria, near the border with Germany.

The Austrian Interior Minister announced that the renovations that began on the house in 2023 will soon be completed. Workers are currently installing new window frames, while the old yellow paint is being replaced with a modern facade.

After a three-year delay, the work is expected to be completed by the end of March, according to the ministry, with the police station scheduled to begin operations in the second quarter of this year.

The authorities hope that this will turn the page on a sensitive chapter in a country sometimes accused of failing to take responsibility for the atrocities committed by the Nazis and the Holocaust, and where the far-right party founded by former Nazis leads the polls after winning the 2024 parliamentary elections, even though it is unable to form a government.

A center of attraction for the Nazis

The house, which had been owned by the same family since 1912, had been rented since 1972 to the Austrian state, which had converted it into a center for the disabled, a group of society that had been persecuted during the Nazi era. However, it had always been a magnet for those who were fascinated by Nazi ideas and influenced by Hitler's personality.

The last owner of the house, Gerlinde Bommer, objected to the conversion of the building and challenged the state's expropriation through all possible legal means. This required the passage of a special law in 2016.

Three years later, the Supreme Court approved the purchase of the building for €810,000, while the owner had asked for €1.5 million, and the state had offered only €310,000. The house is 800 square meters and has two floors.

Several possibilities were considered for what the house could become, but a memorial site was ruled out, as a committee of experts recommended against it to prevent it from becoming a pilgrimage site for neo-Nazis. Demolition was not an option either, as historians say Austria must "confront its past."

The decision was made to convert it into a police station, though this was not unanimously agreed upon. The aim was to make it clear that it would never again be a place to glorify Nazism.

Author Ludwig Lahr, a member of an association for concentration camp survivors, says that converting the house into a police station "remains problematic, because the police in any political system are obligated to carry out orders." He believes the best use for the space would be to transform it into a peacebuilding center.
65,000 Austrian Jews were killed in Nazi camps and another 130,000 were forced to leave.