The building where Adolf Hitler was born, near Austria's border with Germany, officially began a new life as a police station on Wednesday. Austria's government hopes the conversion will prevent it from becoming a place of pilgrimage for neo-Nazis.
After years of debate over the large terraced house in Braunau am Inn, Austria took compulsory ownership of the privately owned building in 2017. The government announced in 2019 that it would be remodelled and converted into a police station.
Even before the conversion, the only sign of the building's historical significance was a rock on the pavement from the Mauthausen concentration camp bearing the inscription: "Never again fascism", which does not mention Hitler.
The rock remains in place. The only sign added to the white façade reads: "Police".
"The aim was to prevent any association with Adolf Hitler, so as to strip it of that mystique," said Stephan Mlczoch, head of the Austrian Interior Ministry's history department.
That mystique was encouraged by the Nazis' cult of personality around Hitler, under whose rule the "Fuehrer birth house" became an art museum. Hitler lived there for only a few weeks after his birth in 1889 before his family moved away, Mlczoch said.
"Today's police, 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," Interior Minister Gerhard Karner told the opening ceremony.
Passers-by often stop to take photographs, but their views on Hitler are usually not known. Local officials said there are now only "isolated incidents" involving visitors, fewer than before.
The conversion has faced criticism, including from the Mauthausen Committee, Austria's main Holocaust survivors' organisation, which argues that a police station is an inappropriate use of the site and that more should be done to draw attention to Hitler's crimes.
"Every year at the Mauthausen concentration camp memorial there's a ceremony to say: never again. And in Braunau they're saying: let's forget as soon as possible," said Robert Eiter of the Mauthausen Committee and the Network Against Racism and Right-Wing Extremism.
For decades, Austria argued it was the first victim of National Socialism after being annexed by Hitler's Germany in 1938. It now acknowledges that Austrians were also perpetrators, but rarely elaborates beyond that.
Some local residents questioned the conversion.
"I would have preferred if they had done something else but it is what it is," said Irene, 74, adding that she would have preferred the charity to remain there.
Most, however, supported the move.
"It's great and a good idea," said estate agent Thomas Spreitz. "Every now and then there are (neo-Nazi) groups there, and now that's history."
Philippine Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro said on Monday that China could view recent cuts to U.S.-South Ko...
U.S. special envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff have held talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv on Sunday on efforts to en...
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered the dismantling of unauthorised settler outposts in the West Bank, according to people famili...
An eruption of Indonesia’s Mount Anak Krakatau has disrupted air travel, school activities and fishing operations, with hundreds of passengers stranded at Jakarta’s main airport on Sunday.
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said on Sunday that the United States must recognise that the “rules of the game” in its war against Iran had changed “before it is too late”, a day after Washington struck several Iranian tankers in the Gulf.
U.S. negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner have arrived in Moscow for peace talks on the Russia-Ukraine conflict, two people familiar with the matter said. They were met by Russian Presidential Envoy Kirill Dmitriev.
Two Greek military pilots were killed on Saturday when an F-4 Phantom fighter jet crashed during an air show at Tanagra air base, north of Athens, officials said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin held more than three hours of talks with U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner in Moscow on efforts to end the Ukraine war.
Philippine Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro said on Monday that China could view recent cuts to U.S.-South Korea military exercises as an opportunity to reassert itself in the Indo-Pacific.
U.S. special envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff have held talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv on Sunday on efforts to end Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Germany's far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) has scored a historic victory in Saxony-Anhalt, emerging as the strongest party in the eastern state and putting it closer than ever to forming a regional government.
At least five people were killed and five others injured when an Amazon Prime Air cargo plane overran a runway and crashed while landing at Miami International Airport on Sunday, 6 September, local officials said.
Eight Indonesian airports, including two serving Jakarta, remained closed early on Monday morning because of volcanic ash from eruptions at Mount Anak Krakatau, the transport minister said.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment