Austrian Minister: House in Which Hitler Was Born Could be Demolished

Adolf Hitler. (Everett Historical/Shutterstock)

The Austrian government wants to expropriate the house in Braunau am Inn on the German border where the future Nazi leader was born in 1889 to ensure that it does not become a place of pilgrimage for neo-Nazis.

Austria’s interior minister says he can imagine having the house where Adolf Hitler was born demolished, calling it “the cleanest solution.”

The Interior Ministry has rented the house since 1972 to prevent its misuse, subletting it to various charitable organizations. The building has stood empty since a care center for adults with disabilities moved out in 2011.

Interior Minister Wolfgang Sobotka told ORF television late Saturday that the expropriation is “necessary.” He said that “we have tried to clear up all possibilities for using it and buying it with the owner, but with no results.”

“For me, a demolition … would be the cleanest solution,” Sobotka said.

Sobotka’s ministry described that Sunday as the minister’s personal opinion and noted that it would have to be clarified whether the demolition is legally feasible, the Austria Press Agency reported.

A commission of historians is to consider the house’s future.

There is currently no on-site mention of Hitler’s name, only a big rock that has the caption “For peace, freedom and democracy, never again fascism, millions of dead are a warning.”

By: AP and Unite with Israel Staff