Al Jazeera reports that the Austrian government officially opened a new police station on Wednesday in the town of Braunau am Inn, located in the building where Adolf Hitler was born on April 20, 1889. The conversion, which cost approximately €20 million, was undertaken to deter neo-Nazis from using the site as a place of pilgrimage.
A Shift in Usage
The building, a 17th-century terraced house, had been the subject of years of debate regarding its historical legacy. According to CBC, the Austrian government made a compulsory purchase of the property in 2017 after it had previously been in private ownership and used as a charity for handicapped people. Plans for the remodeling were announced in 2019, with construction beginning in 2023.
The new facility serves as the headquarters for both local and district police, including a unit specialized in tackling narcotics trafficking. Officials noted that the town’s proximity to the German border places it on a key drug-running route. Stephan Mlczoch, head of the Austrian interior ministry’s history department, stated that the goal of the project was to prevent any association with Adolf Hitler, so as to strip it of that mystique.
Commission Recommendations and Public Response
An expert commission had been appointed to determine the site’s future, recommending that it be used for social, charitable, or official administrative purposes. While some members, including historian Oliver Rathkolb, had initially supported housing a social welfare organization there, that proposal was ultimately declined. Mayor Johannes Waidbacher, who served on the commission, explained that a charity would have made the building too accessible to the public.
Public reception has been mixed. While some residents expressed support for the project, noting that it could help move the building’s history into the past, others were critical. A 2023 survey cited by DW.com indicated that only 6% of respondents supported the police station conversion. Eveline Doll, a spokesperson for the local initiative Diskurs Hitlerhaus, argued that a unique historical opportunity was missed
to use the site in a way that focused on peace, freedom, and democracy.
For more on this story, see Austria Opens Police Station at Hitler’s Birthplace to Deter Extremists.
Addressing the Site’s Legacy
Despite the renovation, the site remains a focal point for discussions regarding Austria’s Nazi past. A memorial stone on the pavement, which predates the conversion, remains in place. It features an inscription from the Mauthausen concentration camp: For peace, freedom and democracy. Never again fascism. The millions who died serve as a warning.
Critics, such as Robert Eiter of the Mauthausen Committee and the Network Against Racism and Right-Wing Extremism, have expressed doubt that the change in the building’s function will reduce extremist interest. The world won’t forget where the worst mass murderer in history was born,
Eiter said.
Current Status of the Site
During an inauguration ceremony on July 22, 2026, attended by Interior Minister Gerhard Karner, Mayor Waidbacher stated his hope that the transformation would signal that the community is confronting its history.
Police officials reported that while the site previously saw skinheads laying wreaths and visitors performing illegal Hitler salutes, there are now only isolated incidents
involving tourists.
The building is located at Salzburger Vorstadt 15. Although Hitler lived there for only a few weeks following his birth, the site has long been associated with the Nazi leader’s cult of personality, during which time the building served as an art museum. According to nypost.com, the only new sign added to the white facade of the building reads “Police.”
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