Adolf Hitler's birthplace soon to be transformed into a police station

site It was decided not to make it a place of memory in order to avoid that the place where Adolf Hitler was born on April 20, 1889 and where he lived his early years did not become a place of neo-Nazi pilgrimage -de-police-4d9ce7c.jpg” alt=”The house where Adolf Hitler was born will soon be transformed into a police station” />

A journalist takes pictures of a screen showing the chosen plan for the architectural redevelopment of Adolf Hitler's birthplace, during a press conference at the Ministry of the Interior in Vienna, in Austria, June 2, 2020. — AFP

The construction site to transform the house where Adolf Hitler was born into a police station will begin in October, announced the Austrian government on a controversial file on Monday which has been criticized for years.

“The start of work is scheduled for October 2,” to AFP a spokesman for the Ministry of the Interior. “Following the architectural renovation, a police station and a training center for human rights officers will be set up in this building with a heavy past,” according to a recent press release.

It has been decided not to make it a place of memory in order to avoid that the place where was born Adolf Hitler on April 20, 1889 and where it spent its early years becoming a place of neo-Nazi pilgrimage. The objective is to “sustainably break the cult dedicated to him. by extremist circles,” a commission of experts set up in 2016 by the government. A demolition was also carried out. excluded, Austria having to “confront itself with his past, according to historians.

“Fulfilling the wish of Hitler himself”

The government has led a long legal battle to secure ownership. of this house located in the center of Braunau-am-Inn (north), close to the German border. The 800 square meter building will notably be enhanced by a new roof and undergo an extension. The schedule has been delayed and the cost of the work is now estimated. to 20 million euros financed by the State, against five initially. The new occupants should move in in 2026, according to the ministry which said “maintain its project” despite the emergence of new criticisms.

The director of a documentary which will be released at the end of August, Günter Schwaiger, has indeed called on the authorities to give up this conversion into a police station. This would amount to “Fulfilling the wish of Hitler himself” in favor of an administrative use of the premises, as formulated; in a local newspaper article published in May 1939, he said. Monday at a press conference at Vienna.