The new life of Adolf Hitler’s childhood home in Austria

Austria turns Hitler’s home into a police station / Photo: Spiegel.de, photo editor: Serikzhan Kovlanbayev

The house in the Austrian town of Braunau am Inn where Adolf Hitler was born will soon be converted into a police station. Authorities hope the move will prevent the building from becoming a gathering point for neo-Nazis and Hitler admirers and strip it of symbolic significance, the German magazine Der Spiegel reported.

The transformation of the building into a police station is nearly finished. According to Austria’s Interior Ministry, police are expected to move into the facility in the second quarter of 2026.

The 17th-century structure was originally a residential building and later housed the Gasthof zum Pommer tavern. Hitler’s family lived there only briefly. Shortly after his birth, they moved from Austria to Passau in Bavaria.

Read also: Scientists finally reveal Hitler’s illness after DNA breakthrough.

The house stands in the center of the small border town. Hitler was born there on April 20, 1889.

Austria’s parliament approved a law to expropriate the building, transferring it into state ownership. The reconstruction is expected to cost about €20 million.

In addition to the police station, the site will also house a human rights training center.

Not everyone supports the decision. Some historians and civic activists argue the building would be better suited as an international center for remembrance and dialogue — a concept often referred to as a «House of Responsibility.»