Austria Opens Police Station at Hitler Birthplace

Austria has opened a police station inside the building where Adolf Hitler was born, in an effort to strip the site of its symbolic appeal and discourage neo-Nazi visitors who have long treated it as a place of pilgrimage.

Hitler was born on 20 April 1889 in a rented apartment in the centre of Braunau am Inn, where he spent the first weeks of his life.

Police Move Aims to End Neo-Nazi Pilgrimages

The building has now been converted into offices for a police unit specialising in combating narcotics trafficking. Authorities hope the presence of law enforcement will discourage extremist gatherings and displays, which are illegal under Austrian law.

District police commander Stefan Haslberger said the unit was well suited to the location because Braunau lies close to the German border on a major route used for drug trafficking.

Years of Debate Over the Building's Future

The redevelopment, which cost an estimated €20 million, followed years of public debate over how best to prevent the property from becoming a shrine for supporters of Nazi ideology.

According to Austrian news agency APA, even rubble from the renovation work was secretly disposed of to prevent it from becoming a destination for Hitler admirers.

At the opening ceremony, Interior Minister Gerhard Karner described the project as the start of a "new chapter", saying the building would now serve as "a place of democracy, the rule of law, security". He added that its historical significance would not be forgotten.

The property has repeatedly attracted extremists. In recent years, some visitors left flowers and wreaths on Hitler's birthday, while others posed outside performing the banned Nazi salute. Local residents, frustrated by such incidents, have come to refer to the building as the "house of evil".

Official Use Chosen Over Museum

An expert commission examining the site's future recommended it be used for official, administrative, charitable or social purposes rather than becoming a museum.

The panel warned that a museum could continue to attract far-right extremists, particularly those who place symbolic importance on birthplaces and graves through "blood and soil" ideology. Demolishing the building, it concluded, would erase part of the area's history.

Opinion polls indicated most Austrians preferred the building to be used as a centre promoting democracy.

Parts of the property date back to the 17th century. Over the years it served as an inn and brewery, with apartments on the upper floors, including the flat briefly occupied by Hitler's family.

The Austrian government took ownership of the building about a decade ago after acquiring it from a private owner. Previously, it had been leased to the Interior Ministry and used as a care home for people with disabilities. The building has remained empty since 2011.

A memorial stone outside, made from stone taken from the former Mauthausen concentration camp, bears the inscription: "For peace, freedom and democracy. Never again fascism. The millions who died serve as a warning."

Broader Historical Context

German magazine Der Spiegel recently reported that hackers altered the building's address on Google Maps, replacing the correct street number with 88, a numerical code used by neo-Nazis to represent "Heil Hitler".

The Austrian government said the police station was intended to help "neutralise" the site and reduce its appeal to Hitler sympathisers.

Other properties linked to Hitler have also been repurposed. His former apartment in Munich has housed a police station since the late 1940s, while his official residence in Berlin, the Reich Chancellery, was destroyed during the Second World War.

Austria was annexed by Nazi Germany in 1938. Historians say the country long avoided acknowledging its role in the Holocaust and other Nazi crimes.

The far-right Freedom Party (FPÖ), founded by former Nazis, won the largest share of votes in Austria's September 2024 general election but failed to form a government after mainstream parties refused to join a coalition. Since then, support for the party has continued to increase.

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23 July 2026