2024-01-15 10:58:15
You are in front of a house in the center of Braunau, a small town in Austria with 17,000 inhabitants located on the Inn River which marks the border with the region of Bavaria, in Germany. This imposing, decaying building is infamous for having seen the birth of Adolf Hitler on April 20, 1889, as highlighted in an article in “M Le magazine du Monde”. But today, it is undergoing reconversion, the Austrian government having announced, on August 21, 2023, its upcoming transformation into a police station.
This house was built in the 18the century in the baroque style, typical of Austria. Belonging to the same family since 1912, except during the war years when it was used by the Nazi party as an exhibition center, it served, after the liberation of Braunau am Inn by the American army, on May 2, 1945, library, then school, before becoming a center for the disabled.
In 2011, the building remained empty, the owner family having refused to finance renovation work and to sell it. Its demolition, once considered, was the subject of controversy but was ultimately rejected by historians so that Austria could “confronting one’s past”.
In 1972, the Austrian state decided to rent it to prevent it from being misused. It was only in 2019, after the expropriation of the owner of the house following an interminable legal procedure, that he became full owner. And what was the decision made? regarding the future of the building.
Avoid the place becoming a place of pilgrimage
The decision was not to make it a place of memory, in order to prevent the place from becoming a place of neo-Nazi pilgrimage. Especially since, although Adolf Hitler spent only a short time in this house, it continued to attract admirers of Nazism from all over the world. The anti-fascists also organize a rally there every year. The objective is therefore to “permanently break the cult devoted to it by extremist circles”according to a commission of experts brought together by the government in 2016. After the architectural renovation, a police station and a training center for human rights officers will be installed in this building.
The transformation project of Adolf Hitler’s birthplace began at the beginning of October 2023. It is completely renovated by the Austrian architectural firm Marte Architekten, as recounted in the article in “M Le magazine du Monde”. The 800 square meter building will be enlarged and raised with the installation of a new roof. The yellow paint, characteristic of the facade, will be changed. A commemorative plaque, bearing the inscription “For peace, democracy and freedom. Never again fascism. Millions of deaths remind us of this », must remain in place outside the house. The new occupants are expected to move in in 2026.
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