BRAUNAU AM INN — Adolf Hitler's birthplace in Austria was officially inaugurated as a police station on Wednesday, July 22, 2026. The building serves as the district police headquarters in Braunau am Inn, near the German border, following a years-long effort to neutralize the site's symbolic significance.

The inauguration ceremony included Austria's Interior Minister Gerhard Karner and Braunau am Inn Mayor Johannes Waidbacher. About 100 people watched an orchestra play in the house’s courtyard during the opening, while some 30 officers in uniform attended the event.

"The Republic of Austria, the state, the county is facing up to this heritage, the terrible heritage of this time, and commits itself to deal with it. This entails this house and this address," Karner said. He said the state is confronting the historical weight associated with the location through its new official function.

"I believe that the opening of the police station today brings clarity to the discussion, perhaps also a bit of calm for the people of Braunau," Waidbacher said. "I think on the whole the people of Braunau have accepted it and can live with it." The mayor indicated that the local population has largely adjusted to the building's new role.

The renovation of the building cost around 20 million euros ($22.8 million). The structure underwent significant aesthetic changes to remove its historical distinctiveness. The building's ochre-yellow exterior was painted white, and the arched windows were replaced by simple rectangular shapes. The facade was extended upward toward the roof, and a sign reading "Police" has been added to the building's facade.

Debris from the construction was disposed of at a secret location. The building features security cameras to monitor the premises. These measures were part of a strategy to alter the site's appearance and reduce its appeal to those seeking to honor the Nazi leader.

Adolf Hitler was born in the building on April 20, 1889. His family moved to another residence in Braunau am Inn a few weeks or months after his birth. Hitler returned briefly to Braunau in 1938 on his way to Vienna after annexing Austria to Nazi Germany.

He committed suicide in April 1945 after his regime killed approximately 6 million Jews and other minorities and groups during the Holocaust. World War II resulted in at least 60 million deaths.

The building had been rented by Austria’s Interior Ministry since 1972. It was sublet to various charitable organizations, including a care center for adults with disabilities. The structure stood empty after the care center moved out in 2011. In 1989, a proposal to turn the site into a youth hostel was rejected due to public opposition.

The ownership dispute was resolved in 2017 when Austria’s highest court ruled the government could expropriate the building. The court cited its misuse for neo-Nazi gatherings and the need to prevent the site from becoming a pilgrimage site for far-right extremists. The government paid the former owner, Gerlinde Pommer, compensation of €812,000. The building's original address, 253 Schillerstraße, was changed to 253 Schillerstraße, 253a, to obscure its historical significance and prevent it from being easily identified as Hitler's birthplace.

In 2019, the Austrian government announced plans to turn the building into a police station. A commission of experts recommended against turning the building into a museum. The government initiated an EU-wide competition for architects to submit designs in 2019. A 2019 public opinion poll in Braunau am Inn reportedly found that 67% of residents supported the decision to turn the building into a police station, while 23% opposed it, with the remaining 10% undecided.

In 2024, four Germans were caught laying white roses in the building’s window recesses and posing for photos. One of the four Germans gave the stiff-armed Hitler salute. These incidents showed ongoing concerns about the site attracting neo-Nazi activity. In 2023, the Austrian government funded a €500,000 educational program in Braunau to promote Holocaust awareness and counter far-right ideology, as part of a broader effort to address the site’s historical symbolism.

A memorial stone remains in place outside the house. The stone was erected in 1989 and comes from the nearby former concentration camp at Mauthausen. The memorial stone bears the inscription: For freedom, democracy and liberty. Never again fascism. Millions of dead remind us.

Robert Eiter, a representative of the Mauthausen Committee, criticized the decision to install a police station. "The world won’t forget where the worst mass murderer in history was born. Wikipedia won’t change its entries," Eiter said. The Mauthausen Committee argued that a police station is inappropriate and that more should be done to draw attention to Hitler's crimes.

The conversion of Hitler's birthplace into a police station represents the latest step in Austria's long-standing effort to manage the legacy of its Nazi past. The site in Braunau am Inn, located in Upper Austria, had become a focal point for neo-Nazi gatherings and tourism, prompting the government to intervene. By altering the building's appearance and assigning it a mundane administrative function, authorities aim to strip the location of its mystique and prevent it from serving as a shrine.

The decision follows decades of debate over how to handle the property, which includes rejected proposals for a museum or youth hostel. The 2017 expropriation ruling and subsequent renovation reflect a strategy of obscuring the site's historical identity rather than memorializing it. Critics argue that this approach fails to adequately address the gravity of the crimes committed by the Nazi regime, while supporters believe it reduces the building's symbolic power and provides a pragmatic solution to a persistent problem.