Austrian government to seize Hitler’s house

 

The government of Austria’s on Friday submitted a law to seize the house where the Nazi dictator Hitler was born, in a bid to stop the building becoming a neo-Nazi shrine.

The large corner house near the German border in the quaint northern town of Braunau am Inn where Hitler  was born in 1889 has been owned by the family of a local woman for over a 100 years.

In 1972 the government signed a lease in 1972 with the owner and turned it into a center for people with disabilities, but the plans came to a sudden end five years ago when the owner refused to grant permission for the house to be renovated.

On April 9th, the government decided to seize the property, with the building — which cannot be demolished because it is in the town’s historic center and therefore under heritage protection — empty since 2011.

“Representatives of the interior ministry have been trying for several years to buy the property, but these attempts failed… Now the only option is to transfer ownership to the Austrian Republic through expropriation,” the interior ministry said on Friday.

The owner, who is shy of talking to the media, will receive “adequate compensation,” it said in a statement.

The issue has sparked serious argument among 17,000 Braunau’s  residents. Some calls for it to become a refugee center, while others a museum dedicated to Austria’s liberation and others demolition.

In front of the building is a stone memorial that reads: “For Peace, Freedom and Democracy. Never Again Fascism, Millions of Dead Warn.”