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

[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 ...

[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).

[Tender Branson]

It looks like 7 people on here like this idea:

http://www.timesofisrael.com/russian-mk-wants-to-buy-hitlers-first-home-so-he-can-destroy-it

[Tender Branson]

A solution has now been agreed on:

The building will be completely renovated and in the lower section of the house, the "Volkshilfe" - which is an institution that provides social services for people will open a branch - while in the upper floors the "Volkshochschule" (something like a community college, adult education center) will establish studying rooms for adults and seminar & presentation rooms.

So, those who voted for "option 2" are closest to reality ...

[Tender Branson]

Turns out it will be option 4:

The building where Nazi leader Adolf Hitler was born in Austria will be turned into a police station, officials have announced.

Interior Minister Wolfgang Peschorn said it would be an "unmistakable signal" that the property did not commemorate Nazism.

Hitler spent the first few weeks of his life in a flat in the 17th-Century building in the town of Braunau am Inn.

The fate of the property has been the subject of a lengthy dispute.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-50482019

[Tender Branson]

FINALLY !

Austria unveils new design for Hitler's birthplace

The Austrian government revealed the winning plan to redesign Adolf Hitler's birth house on Tuesday, with the yellow building set to become a police station.



The move follows decades of debate over what to do with the building in the northern Austrian town of Braunau am Inn where Hitler was born in April 1889 and spent the first months of his life.



"A new chapter will be opened for the future from the birth house of a dictator and mass murderer," Interior Minister Karl Nehammer said at a press conference.

"It is the most appropriate use [for the building]. Why? The police are the protector of fundamental rights and freedoms," Nehammer said.

https://www.dw.com/en/austria-unveils-new-design-for-hitlers-birthplace/a-53660920

[Tender Branson]

Tear it down and build a synagogue.

A museum would be more appropriate.

I posted above that the house will become a police station, after rebuilding is complete in 2-3 years.

Good luck to the Neo-Nazis who are on a pilgrimage to the Hitler house and then suddenly bump into a police station ...