Austria turns Hitler's birthplace into a police station to prevent neo-Nazi pilgrimage

The building the late Nazi leader Adolf Hitler was born in near the Austrian border with Germany officially begins a new life as a police station on Wednesday — a conversion Austria's government hopes will prevent it serving as a place of pilgrimage for neo-Nazis.

After years of debate about the large, traditional terraced house in the town of Braunau am Inn — which was in private ownership and had housed a charity for handicapped people — Austria made a compulsory purchase in 2017 and announced in 2019 it would be remodelled and turned into a police station.

"The darkest period in our country's history did not begin at this location. No wars were fought here, no people were persecuted, and no atrocities were ordered here. And yet, a certain symbolism clings to this place—a symbolism that seems to encompass all of that," said Austrian interior minister Gerhard Karner during a speech at the opening of the police station.

"For many—far too many—were captivated and seduced by an ideology inextricably linked to this person, who was born in this very area," he added.

Passerbys often stop to take pictures of the location, but their views on Hitler are usually not known. Local officials said there are now only "isolated incidents" involving visitors, fewer than before.

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