Austria Converts Adolf Hitler's Birthplace Into Police Station

The Government of Austria officially inaugurated a police station on July 22, 2026, in the building where Adolf Hitler was born in Braunau am Inn. The conversion follows a €20 million renovation designed to neutralize the site and strip it of its mystique to prevent neo-Nazi extremists from using the location as a place of pilgrimage.

To reduce the building's recognizability, authorities repainted the facade from yellow to white, replaced arched windows with rectangular ones, and disposed of construction debris at a secret location. The state gained control of the 17th-century property in 2017 after the Supreme Court of Justice ruled that the compulsory purchase from former owner Gerlinde Pommer was in the public interest.

Interior Minister Gerhard Karner characterized the facility as a symbol of democracy and the rule of law. However, the Austrian Mauthausen Committee and other critics argued that the redevelopment attempts to erase historical memory and downplays Hitler's crimes. Robert Eiter, a spokesperson for the committee, asserted that the renovation would not stop neo-Nazi visitors because the world will not forget where the mass murderer was born.