Austria has officially opened a police station in the building where Adolf Hitler was born in Braunau am Inn, near the German border. The government hopes the new use of the property will discourage neo-Nazi groups from treating it as a site of pilgrimage and reduce its historical association with Hitler. 
The building has remained at the centre of public debate for many years. It was privately owned for decades and had previously been used by a charity supporting people with disabilities. Austria compulsorily acquired the property in 2017, and later announced plans to redevelop it into a police station as part of an effort to prevent it from becoming a symbolic location for extremist groups. 
The building has undergone significant renovation, but very few visible reminders of its historical connection remain. A memorial stone placed outside the property, brought from the Mauthausen concentration camp, continues to carry the inscription calling for opposition to fascism. The building itself now displays only a sign identifying it as a police station. 
Stephan Mlczoch, head of the Austrian Interior Ministry's history department, said the objective of the project was to remove the building's association with Adolf Hitler and take away the symbolic value that had developed around it over the years. 
According to officials, the building briefly served as Hitler’s birthplace in 1889 before his family moved away only weeks later. During the Nazi era, however, it was turned into an art museum dedicated to the so-called Führer's birthplace, strengthening its symbolic importance under Nazi propaganda. 
Local authorities said visitors still stop outside the building to take photographs, although incidents involving suspected neo-Nazi sympathisers have reduced over time. They described such cases as isolated compared with previous years. Austria maintains strict laws that prohibit the display of Nazi symbols and gestures, including the Hitler salute. 
Braunau am Inn Mayor Johannes Waidbacher said residents had generally accepted the building's new purpose. He explained that a commission reviewing the property's future had recommended that it be used either for a charitable organisation or a government administrative function. A police station was ultimately considered more suitable because it would limit unrestricted public access compared with a charity facility. 
He added that while the approach appeared reasonable, its long-term effectiveness in discouraging extremist visitors would only become clear over time. 
The redevelopment, however, has continued to attract criticism from some Holocaust remembrance organisations. The Mauthausen Committee, one of Austria's leading Holocaust survivors' groups, has argued that using the building as a police station does not adequately highlight Hitler's crimes or educate visitors about the atrocities committed during the Nazi regime. 
Robert Eiter, representing the Mauthausen Committee and the Network Against Racism and Right-Wing Extremism, said Austria should focus more on preserving historical memory rather than reducing public attention to the site. He argued that the building's historical significance cannot be erased and believes neo-Nazi visitors are unlikely to stop travelling to Braunau because of the conversion. 
Austria has gradually changed its official position on its role during the Nazi era. For decades after the Second World War, the country maintained that it had been the first victim of Nazi Germany following its annexation in 1938. In more recent years, Austria has acknowledged that many Austrians also participated in Nazi crimes, although historians and remembrance groups continue to call for broader public engagement with that history. 
Some local residents also expressed mixed views about the redevelopment. One resident said they would have preferred the charity to continue operating from the building, while accepting the government's decision. 
Others supported the move. Local estate agent Thomas Spreitz said the conversion was a positive step, adding that organised neo-Nazi groups had occasionally gathered outside the property in the past but believed the building's new role would help bring that chapter to an end. 
Source Reuters