Renovation of Hitler’s birthplace into a police station starts October: “As the dictator himself wanted”, says critic | Abroad

There is criticism of the renovation. For example, Austrian director Guenter Schwaiger, who is releasing a documentary about the house at the end of August, says that the government’s plans “will always be suspected of being in line with the dictator’s wishes,” he said at a press conference.

Schwaiger pointed to a newspaper article dated May 10, 1939, which states that it was Hitler’s wish to have his birth house converted into offices for the district authorities. A police station would amount to the administrative use that the dictator always envisioned, according to the director.

To prevent the building on the border with Germany from becoming a neo-Nazi pilgrimage site, the Austrian government took control of the dilapidated building in 2016. Although Hitler only lived in the building for a short time, the building continues to attract Nazi sympathizers from around the world. During the pandemic, corona deniers also demonstrated.

The estimated cost of the controversial redesign of the 800 square meter corner house is around twenty million euros, much more than the originally estimated five million euros. Work is expected to be completed in 2025. The police station should open in 2026.