The three-story house is a shade of vanilla. Its blighted windows and dirt marks show signs of age. It’s just another house on the block. Nothing to see. Nothing to witness, except for the neo-Nazis who sometimes visit.
Adolf Hitler was born there in 1889.
After years of legal wrangling, the Austrian government will have the empty house demolished, Andreas Großschartner, an Interior Ministry spokesperson, said Monday.
A new building in Braunau am Inn, in western Austria along the border with Germany, will erase links to the Nazi dictator’s birthplace and stop the house from becoming a shrine for neo-Nazi pilgrimage.
A 13-member commission concluded that a vacant area is not advisable since it could imply a denial of Austrian history.
“I agree with the commission that a profound architectural redesign makes sense to permanently prevent both the recognition and the symbolic value of the building,” Interior Minister Wolfgang Sobotka said in a statement.
On Tuesday, a government bill will be discussed for the expropriation of the building.
After completion of the parliamentary process, officials will decide on its future. It’s possible it may house a charity or government offices.
