Adolf Hitler was born in a town called Braunau am Inn in Austria near the German border. The Austrian government is now seeking to demolish the house in which the infamous Nazi leader was born.
The Interior Ministry has rented the house to various charitable organizations since 1972. The last such organization to use the building ran a care center there for adults with disabilities. They moved out in 2011, and the building has been empty ever since.
Interior Minister Wolfgang Sobotka told German television that he believed expropriating the property was necessary. Other options, including buying the property, have fallen through.
“For me, a demolition… would be the cleanest solution,” Sobotka said. There is still work to be done to see if it is legally feasible to demolish the house. A commission of historians is convening to consider the options for the future of the house.
Hitler was actually born in the then Austro-Hungarian Empire. His father was a minor official in the empire’s government. His childhood and teenage years were spent in rural Austria. His home life was far from happy. Hitler only moved to Germany, after failing to become an artist in Vienna. His family remained in Austria and some of his relatives continued to live in the old Hitler home, during and after the war.
Video
A video showing Braunau Am Inn and the house where Hitler was born.