The house, where Nazi Dictator Adolf Hitler was born, will be torn down and replaced with a new building, Austria’s government announced on Monday. This move will eliminate the property’s pull as a place of pilgrimage for neo-Nazis.
The plan still has to be formalised in legislation and voted on in Parliament. But the Interior Ministry said demolition was recommended by a government-appointed commission.
A thorough architectural remodelling is necessary to permanently prevent the recognition and the symbolism of the building.Interior Minister Wolfgang Sobotka
A ministry statement emailed to The Associated Press quoted Sobotka saying he wants to ensure that any association with Hitler is eliminated at the site, adding that he could conceive of it being repurposed to house either government or social agency offices.
Surviving Structures
Vienna's Jewish community and a government-supported anti-Nazi research centre support tearing down the imposing three-story yellow house, where Hitler was born on 20 April 1889.
But some historians argue that the house and the apartment inside where the Hitler family lived briefly should be preserved specifically because they are among the few surviving structures linked to the Nazi leader.
A house in nearby Leonding, where Hitler lived as a teenager, is now used to store coffins for the town cemetery. There, the tombstone marking the grave of Hitler's parents, another pilgrimage site for neo-Nazis, was removed last year at the request of a descendant.
A school that Hitler attended in Fischlham, also near Braunau, displays a plaque condemning his crimes against humanity.
(With inputs from AP)
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