Hitler’s birthplace in Braunau: renovation has begun

The renovation of Hitler’s birthplace in Braunau began on Monday. The building will house a police station and the district police command. In addition, a branch of the security academy will be set up, and human rights training courses for police officers are planned. The reference date is the first quarter of 2026.

Hitler’s birthplace has been empty since Lebenshilfe moved out in 2011. This began the debate about fair use. After an agreement could not be reached with the long-time owner, it was expropriated. The house has belonged to the Republic since 2016. The start of the conversion into a police station has been postponed several times, and the expected costs have also increased: the total costs are now expected to be 20 million euros, compared to five million at the beginning.

Always criticism

In a report completed in 2016, an expert commission on dealing with the Hitler birthplace spoke out in favor of social-charitable or official-administrative use. The intention of the redesign is to break the recognition value and attractiveness of the house as a tourist destination for neo-Nazis. However, the memorial stone with the inscription “For Peace, Freedom and Democracy – Never again fascism – Warning for millions of dead” remains unchanged in front of the house following a resolution by the city of Braunau and contrary to the recommendation of the expert group.

There is always criticism of the planned subsequent use as a police building, also with regard to international perception. Most recently, the Discourse Hitlerhaus initiative, together with the friends of Yad Vashem (Jerusalem Holocaust Memorial and Research Center, note), proposed housing the traveling exhibition “The Righteous” as a permanent exhibition in the building.

In the summer the film “Who’s Afraid of Braunau?” fueled the debate. Director Günter Schwaiger came across a newspaper report from 1939 that Hitler would like to have the house where he was born converted into offices for the district leadership and thus for administrative purposes. The Interior Ministry’s plans ultimately fulfill Hitler’s wishes, according to Schwaiger’s conclusion, which was immediately described as “absurd” by the contemporary historian Oliver Rathkolb, a member of the subsequent use commission set up by the ministry at the time.

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