Hitler's birthplace to be human rights training center

The Austrian home where Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler was born is to be converted into a human rights training center for police officers. Recently the Ministry of Interior of Austria announced this.

For years there has been debate over what to do with the house, which has become one of the neo-Nazi landmarks.

 

Hilter was born on April 20, 1889 in a building in the northwestern city of Braunau am Inn, Austria. The city is located 284 km east of Vienna.

 

Before Hitler was born, the ownership of the three-story building passed to the family of a man named Gerlinde Pomer, documents say. Later, when Hitler was three years old, his family moved away.

 

After much controversy over the building, the Austrian government issued a compulsory purchase order in 2016. Under this, the government takes ownership of it. A police station was set up in the building in late 2019.

 

The Home Ministry said in a statement that the decision to turn it into a human rights training center was made as recommended by an interdepartmental expert commission due to concerns over the building's 'mythical appeal to extremists'.

 

Until 1972, the building was occupied by members of the Pomar family. That year the Ministry of Home Affairs rented the building. Later it was given (sublet) to various charities for use. However, the building was lying vacant since 2011.

 

In 2026, the Ministry of Home Affairs took the initiative to demolish the building. However, the government withdrew from that decision in the face of protests from politicians and historians. In this situation the government took ownership from the Pomar family under 'special legal authority'.

 

The cost of construction to turn the building into a training center has been estimated at 2.15 million dollars. Construction is expected to be completed by mid-2025.

Note that Adolf Hitler led the Nazi forces of Germany from 1933 to 1945.

 

In 1939, Hitler started World War II by invading neighboring Poland. The Great War ended with his suicide in Berlin on April 30, 1945.

About 60 million people lost their lives in World War II. During the war, the brutality and massacres that Hitler and his allies carried out in various European countries, including Germany, is one of the most brutal chapters in history.