Hitler’s Birth Home in Austria to Be Converted Into Police Station
Construction is reportedly scheduled to begin this fall to turn the townhouse in the northern Austrian town of Braunau where Nazi leader Adolf Hitler was born into a police station with a human rights training center.
An interior ministry spokesman for the Austrian government confirmed the controversial project to Agence France-Presse (AFP) on Monday.
The re-construction of the 8,600 square-feet corner house, which is located near the border with Germany, is estimated to cost roughly $21.76 million. The project is set to begin on Oct. 2 and is expected to be completed by 2025, with the police station becoming operational by 2026.
The Austrian government took control of the house in 2016 amid concerns about it attracting neo-Nazis, but faced a lengthy legal battle with the home’s owner, who did not want to sell the property.
However, Austrian director Guenter Schwaiger said the government’s plans for the home are controversial and will “always be suspected” of being “in line with the dictator’s wishes,” AFP reported.
Schwaiger, who is set to release a documentary about the house later this month, uncovered a local newspaper article from May 10, 1939, that says Hitler wanted to have his birth home converted into offices for local police. At a press conference on Monday, he called on the government to reconsider its plans for the house and said turning it into a police station is in line with Hitler’s desires.
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