In the Austrian town of Braunau am Inn, on the border with the German state of Bavaria, a new police centre located in the building historically known as the birthplace of Adolf Hitler was officially opened on Wednesday. The opening of the facility marks the culmination of a long process that began with the state’s expropriation of the property in 2017, after the building had long been in private ownership and the subject of complex legal disputes.
The conversion project, which cost around €20 million, encompasses the main building, auxiliary structures, and the inner courtyard. Staff from the district police command (Bezirkspolizeikommando) and the local police station are housed within the complex. According to information relayed by the dpa news agency, the space has been functionally adapted to the needs of security services, transforming the building from a symbol of the past into an active instrument of modern public safety.
An expert committee rejected two more radical options during planning: demolishing the building and converting the site into a museum. Instead, it recommended a redesign that would make the structure as unrecognisable as possible as a historical monument. Authorities consider the decision to house the police in the building a strategic advantage, as it ensures the ability to immediately check suspicious individuals who come to the site.
The decision was made in the context of the fact that the house has repeatedly been a destination for far-right extremists and neo-Nazis. The aim of opening the police centre is to prevent the building from continuing to attract such groups, particularly given its location on the border with Germany. The police will thus have direct control over access to the site and will be able to respond to attempts to organise gatherings.
Adolf Hitler was born in this house on 20 April 1889. His dictatorship led to the outbreak of the Second World War, in which at least 60 million people died, and to the Holocaust, in which around six million Jews were murdered. Converting the house into a police station is part of Austria’s broader effort to deal with the dark heritage of that period in a way that prevents its instrumentalisation by extremist groups.
