Hitler's Birthplace Gets A Makeover: Austria Turns Infamous House Into Police Station
Hitler's Birthplace Gets A Makeover: Austria Turns Infamous House Into Police Station Published By, Last Updated: July 23, 2026, 02:25 IST Austria bought the privately
Hitler's Birthplace Gets A Makeover: Austria Turns Infamous House Into Police Station Published By, Last Updated: July 23, 2026, 02:25 IST Austria bought the privately owned house in 2017 and announced two years later that it would be renovated and converted into a police station. Police officers stand outside the building where Adolf Hitler was born, in Braunau am Inn, Austria. (Reuters photo) The house where Adolf Hitler was born has begun a new chapter as an Austrian police station, with the government hoping the transformation will prevent the building from becoming a destination for neo-Nazi followers. The building in Braunau am Inn, near Austria’s border with Germany, officially opened as a police facility on Wednesday after years of debate over what should be done with the property. Austria bought the privately owned house in 2017 and announced two years later that it would be renovated and converted into a police station. The building had previously housed a charity supporting people with disabilities. A new symbol of democracy Officials said the aim of the conversion was to remove the building’s association with Hitler and reduce its appeal as a place of extremist interest.
“The aim was to prevent any association with Adolf Hitler, so as to strip it of that mystique," Stephan Mlczoch, head of the Austrian interior ministry’s history department, told reporters during a tour of the renovated site. The only sign of the building’s past remains a stone outside from the Mauthausen concentration camp, carrying the message “Never again fascism". The new white facade features only one prominent word: “Police". Interior Minister Gerhard Karner said the police station represented the opposite of the symbolism linked to Hitler’s dictatorship. “Our Austrian federal police, is the exact opposite of the symbolism tied to this place. Our police stand … for democracy and the rule of law," Karner said at the opening ceremony. Hitler was born in the house in 1889 but lived there for only a few weeks before his family moved away. Under Nazi rule, the building was turned into part of the cult surrounding the dictator. Local officials said visits linked to Hitler supporters have declined in recent years, though some people still stop to take photographs. Nazi symbols and the Hitler salute are banned in Austria. Braunau Mayor Johannes Waidbacher said many residents had accepted the decision, though some questioned whether a police station was the right choice.
The BriefWire