What to do with Hitler's birth house in Braunau ?

[Tender Branson]

Debate reignited over what to do with house in Austria where Hitler was born



With its thick walls, huge arched doorway and deep-set windows, this 500-year-old house near the town square in Braunau, Austria, would normally be prime property. Because Adolf Hitler was born there, it has instead become a huge headache for town officials.

BRAUNAU, Austria -- Living space in Braunau is scarce, but a Renaissance-era building stands empty in this postcard-pretty Austrian town because of the sinister shadow cast by a former resident: Adolf Hitler.

With its thick walls, huge arched doorway and deep-set windows, the 500-year-old house near the town square normally would be prime property. Because Hitler was born there, it has become a huge headache for town officials forced into deciding what to do with a landmark so linked to evil.

The building was used most recently as a workshop for mentally handicapped people, which some saw as atonement for the killings of tens of thousands of disabled people by the Nazi regime. But that tenant moved out last year.

The departure reignited debate on what to do with the house that burst from the town hall into the public domain last week after the mayor declared that he preferred creating apartments over turning the building into an anti-Nazi memorial.

"We are already stigmatized," Johannes Waidbacher told the Austrian daily Der Standard. "We, as the town of Braunau, are not ready to assume responsibility for the outbreak of World War II."

That sparked a storm of criticism, with Waidbacher accused of trying to bury memories of the Nazi past.

Stung by the criticism, Waidbacher has since stepped back, saying he can conceive of "all possible uses" for the building.

On Thursday, Waidbacher expressed surprise at the vehement reaction to his comments, saying he did not mean to make light of the situation.

It's unclear who else might want to take up residence in the house. Austria's Interior Ministry has rented the house since 1972 from the owner, a woman in her 60s who refuses to be identified publicly. The ministry has been careful to sublet only to tenants with no history of admiring Hitler.

http://www.freep.com/article/20120928/NEWS07/309280094/Debate-reignited-over-what-to-do-with-house-in-Austria-where-Hitler-was-born

[dead0man]

Ahh, that is a tough one.  The mayor will be damned no matter what action he takes.  My first thought was "tear it down", but that's not really an option (unless it was dilapidated).  I guess the best thing would be to donate it (or really cheap lease) to another group of underprivileged types.

[Tender Branson]

It also looks like the wooden doors of this building have been in there for the last 300 or so years ...

Everything else looks to be renovated and at least from the past century ...

[London Man]

Tear it down and turn into a garden.

[Hatman]

2 words: Hitler museum

[Vasall des Midas]

Tear down entire town to make room for Hitler Memorial Fun Park to be built around house.

[opebo]

Move it with meticulous care - every brick and brack - to Arizona.  Then put in a parking lot in its place.

[Tender Branson]

I actually like the appartment or office option best.

As the article says, real estate is not cheap in the city and so it should be renovated and turned into appartments or into a company/office area. There shouldn't be so much fuss about it, houses with murderers are sold all the time (even though the background check for people with Hitler fondness should remain).

[Sibboleth]

There shouldn't be so much fuss about it, houses with murderers are sold all the time (even though the background check for people with Hitler fondness should remain).

Depends on the murderer and on the house. 25 Cromwell Street, Gloucester is most definitely no longer standing...

[Vasall des Midas]

There shouldn't be so much fuss about it, houses with murderers are sold all the time (even though the background check for people with Hitler fondness should remain).

Depends on the murderer and on the house. 25 Cromwell Street, Gloucester is most definitely no longer standing...

http://maps.google.de/maps?q=25+Cromwell+Street,+Gloucester&hl=de&ie=UTF8&ll=51.861832,-2.243352&spn=0.000309,0.000871&sll=50.121212,8.636564&sspn=0.327989,0.891953&hnear=25+Cromwell+St,+Gloucester+GL1,+Vereinigtes+K%C3%B6nigreich&t=h&z=21&layer=c&cbll=51.861832,-2.243352&panoid=yYRMywG9Ka0AjYaEYEEPqw&cbp=12,302.34,,0,11.83

[Simfan34]

Tear down the entire town, obviously. But seriously, treat it like any other building. And at its age, it should'nt be torn simply because of how old it is.

[ingemann]

Who gives a damn, Hitler isn't and wasn't some kind of supernatural evil, whose birth tainted the
house forever. He was just a man like everybody else, yes he was behind some of the worst act
of brutality in the 20th century, but that doesn't change the first part.
As for what to use the house for, avoid neo-nazis using it, but beside that use it for apartments
or a museum.

[ChairmanSanchez]

Let the owner decide what to do with it. If the government owns it (I don't know if they own it or not), they should just rent the space out as offices, and make a small memorial inside for Hitlers victims.

[JulioMadrid]

2 words: Hitler museum

[IDS Judicial Overlord John Dibble]

I have two ideas, one practical and the other ironic:

1. Find some eccentric rich person who collects WWII memorabilia and sell it to him.
2. See if Israel might like to open an embassy in it.

[Mr. Morden]

Apartment complex, with every tenant being given the full time job of writing new Downfall parodies.

[Smid]

I have two ideas, one practical and the other ironic:

1. Find some eccentric rich person who collects WWII memorabilia and sell it to him.
2. See if Israel might like to open an embassy in it.

Yes, Dibble's second idea, or a museum for Jewish culture.

[opebo]

2. See if Israel might like to open an embassy in it.

Technically would be a consulate, but great idea actually.

[dead0man]

Tear it down and turn into a garden.

Unless the neo-Nazis turn as violent as certain Muslims, in which case you would be more than willing to appease them to avoid bloodshed.

[You kip if you want to...]

Tear it down and leave the land barren.

[ingemann]

Tear it down and leave the land barren.

Let us tear a 500 year old house down because we don't like a guy born in it. Afterward we can have a nice little public book burning.

[SPC]

Bury it at sea.

[ag]

forget about it.

[politicus]

Its a historical building which should certainly not be teared down, but be used for modern families to live in. The house is not haunted or anything. Its a pseudo problem.

[dead0man]

People not smart enough to code their post properly should be banned.