A couple weeks after his birth, the whole Hitler family moved within Braunau, and left Braunau 3 years later. In 1938, this house was purchased by - Martin Bormann. Just 4 months after the
Anschluss, it was placed under "heritage" by the Nazis as "birthplace of the Führer and Reichskanzler Adolf Hitler", and turned into a "cultural centre" complete with a gallery and library.
In 1952, this house was handed back to the original owners (pre-Bormann), the Pommer's, and because the building dates back to the 17th century, it was again put under heritage protection, the facade as part of the historic city centre. At the same time as the restitution of the house, it was rented by the Republic of Austria and put to various uses, including as library, as bank, and as a school building. The latest use was, from 1977 to 2011, as a home and workplace for people with disabilities. Since then, it is empty. One reason why it is no longer in use as home and workplace is the refusal by the current owner, Mrs. Gerlinde Pommer, to grant permission for necessary renovations and rebuildings inside the house to adapt it to the needs of disabled persons. The Republic tried to purchase this house, but negotiations ended without result. Now, there's a bill under discussion in Parliament to seize the house.
*** All above is taken from current local newspaper articles and from Wikipedia, everything below are completely my own words ***
As it's often the case in Austria, when politicians don't know what to do, a commission is put in charge to make recommendations. And here the current fuss started; our Minister of the Interior, Mr. Wolfgang Sobotka, apparently is either unable to read and understand what's written, or hasn't read the report of this commission at all. He said in tv he is "following the recommendation of the commission to tear down this house". Bad luck for Sobotka,
nowhere in the report the commission recommended this. (Some background info, Sobotka is a inexperienced minister who was "promoted" away from Niederösterreich (an Austrian province) by the local
Landeshauptmann (something like a governor) Erwin Pröll, into the coalition government of Austria, apparently to prevent Sobotka to inherit Pröll's own position. Both have one thing in common, they like to frequently appear on telly, to pompously announce they'll do something this or that. And the difference between them both, Pröll almost always delivers - and Sobotka almost always fails to...)
Here's the complete document, sadly for most of you guys [:D] it's in German only;
http://www.bmi.gv.at/cms/cs03documentsbmi/1908.pdf
What the commission recommended is in the last paragaph,
Empfehlungen.
#1 is "to use it for caritative or administrative purposes",
#2 is "to use it in such a way that no association with the person Adolf Hitler or identification with national-socialism is possible, which could be possible if it is to be used as a museum."
#3 is to
rebuild the house in such a way that it looks completely different, and thus removes the "symbol"
See, no recommendation to tear it down, #3 comes very close, but rebuilding it to make it look completely different (in other words, to radically change the facade) is not synonymous with tearing down a building.
My own opinion about this whole thing;
Part of National-Socialism was a extreme persona cult - and that's probably why this bloody house is also in the focus by Neo-Nazis. This is also why it could be a problem to use the house now as a commemorative site, because it would also attract the wrong people (see last paragraph, down below).
Whether this house is still standing or not, the fact that Hitler was born in Braunau am Inn, on 20th April 1889, must not - and cannot - be erradicated. Frankly, I think that little Adolf, at the age of 3 yrs when his family left Braunau for good, had other things in mind than
Lebensraum or genocide, in his case the annihilation of the Jews. Unless one thinks that being a mass murderer - and worse - is predetermined in the genes or in toddler's age, his birth-house is of no relevance to his later deeds. Hitler developed his .... how to call it... "mindset" at other places, Vienna being one example, among others.
The best places to remember Adolf Hitler and all what this malodorus runt stands for, are places such as Auschwitz, Bergen-Belsen, or Mauthausen. I would recommend to carefully tear down this house, brick by brick, and then rebuild it, brick by brick, in one of the remaining concentration camps, now used as museums and commemorative sites of course, best suited would be in my view Mauthausen because it is also in Austria. THERE, all those on-living stench, i.e. those misguided sorry examples of humanity who still admire Hitler and the Nazis and identify themselves with National-Socialism, could touch a stone of the birthhouse of their beloved "Führer" - and at the same time they could also get some education into their apparently empty brains (but which, sadly, will be of no use, those people are, I fear, immune to education, but at least it could be worth a try).
