Adolf Hitler's birth house. The government has sought ownership so it can take measures to lessen its attraction as a shrine for the Nazi dictator's admirers. Photo / AP
Adolf Hitler's birth house. The government has sought ownership so it can take measures to lessen its attraction as a shrine for the Nazi dictator's admirers. Photo / AP
Austria's government on Wednesday moved to seize Hitler's birthplace by compulsory purchase to prevent it becoming a shrine for neo-Nazis, amid warnings of its growing attraction for far Right "tourism".
The country's interior minister called for the historic building in the town of Braunau am Inn to be demolished.
"It's my vision to tear down the house," Wolfgang Sobotka said. "For me, demolition is the cleanest solution."
The Austrian government on Tuesday finalised a draft law to expropriate the house from its current owner after years of wrangling over its use.
"The decision is necessary because the Republic would like to prevent this house from becoming a 'cult site' for neo-Nazis in any way, which it has been repeatedly in the past, when people gathered there to shout slogans," Mr Sobotka said.
The move comes amid a surge by far Right parties and movements across Europe. In Austria, the far Right Freedom Party is hoping to win a September rerun of the recent presidential election after successfully challenging its narrow loss on the basis of voting irregularities.
The house's eventual fate remains undecided, with Mr Sobotka's spokesman stressing that his call for it to be demolished is just a "personal opinion".
Reinhold Mitterlehner, the Austrian vice-chancellor, called for the house to be used for something of "educational value", such as a museum.
Demolishing the house would not prevent the site becoming a shrine, the Documentation Centre of Austrian Resistance warned.
Gerhard Baumgartner, the organisation's head, said that the building should be "completely depoliticised" to stop what he said was the site's growing attraction among neo-Nazis.
"We are seeing that a kind of European tourism. Last year there was a bus trip from Hungary visiting, this year different prominent far-right figures stopped on their way through," Mr Baumgartner told Oe1 public radio.
"It should be turned into something that nobody wants to be photographed in front of... a supermarket, a Humana (second-hand clothes shop) or a fire station - a sensible usage."
The Austrian government has been locked in negotiations with the building's owner for years.
Gerlinde Pommer-Angloher, a retired local woman, bought the property in 1977, and has steadfastly refused to allow the building to be renovated.
The interior ministry has rented the building since 1972 to prevent it being used as a far-Right shrine, paying around €4,800 (£4,000) a month.
It was used as a daycare centre for people with learning difficulties until 2011, when the charity moved out, reportedly after Ms Pommer-Angloher blocked renovations to make it accessible for the handicapped.
She has also blocked moves to install a plaque commemorating the victims of Nazism on the house - prompting the town authorities to put one up on the pavement outside instead.
Ms Pommer-Angloher reportedly attempted to evict the government as a tenant in 2014. Though the move was ruled unlawful, it raised concerns over the future of the house.
Hitler's birthplace could become a "cult site" for fans of Nazism, the government warned. Photo / Supplied
She failed to respond an offer by the ministry to buy the building, and the government decided it had no choice but to expropriate it.
Rather than relying on Austria's standard compulsory purchase legislation, the government has drawn up a special law for the unique case, to prevent setting a precedent of seizing property for political reasons.
The new law still has to be approved by parliament, but that is considered a formality given the government's majority.
Hitler was born on April 20, 1889 in the building, where his father, a minor customs official, had rented rooms, but only lived there a few weeks before the family moved to another house.
He spent the first three years of his life in Braunau am Inn, a tiny backwater near Linz, before his father was transferred to Passau, across the border in Germany.
In 1938, after the Anschluss with Austria, huge crowds watched as Hitler returned to Braunau in triumph.
