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The mass murderer was born in the building on April 20, 1889.
19:00, Wed, Jul 22, 2026 Updated: 19:02, Wed, Jul 22, 2026
The building became a hotspot for dark tourism. (Image: MARTIN DIVISEK/EPA/Shutterstock)
The building where mass murderer Adolf Hitler was born has been transformed into a police station, in an effort to destroy the site's attraction among fans of dark tourism and far-right extremists. The building is located in Braunau am Inn in Austria, near the German border. Hitler was born there on April 20, 1889.
His family moved to another residence in Braunau am Inn after only a few months, before settling temporarily in Passau in southern Germany. Fuelled by racial fanaticism, Hitler’s Nazi regime killed approximately six million Jews and other minorities and groups during the Holocaust. After becoming Chancellor of Germany in 1933, the dictator unleashed World War 2 in which at least 60 million people died. He took his own life in April 1945, shortly before the end of the war, as the Soviet Red Army encircled Berlin.
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An opening ceremony took place today (Wednesday, July 22) (Image: AFP via Getty Images)
How the building looked before the £17million overhaul. (Image: AFP/Getty Images)
The renovation of the building into a police station took several years and cost around 20 million euros (some £17million), Austrian news agency APA reported. It was preceded by a year-long back-and-forth over the ownership of the house.
The ownership question was resolved in 2017 when Austria’s highest court ruled the government was within its rights to expropriate the building after its owner refused to sell.
In the end, the owner was paid around 812,000 euros (£690,000) in compensation for the compulsory purchase of the structure and the adjoining car park.
The building had been rented by Austria’s Interior Ministry since 1972 to prevent its misuse and was sublet to various charitable organisations. The structure stood empty after a care centre for adults with disabilities moved out in 2011.
A commission of experts came out against turning the building into a museum, advocating instead for a redesign that would not be easily recognisable.
A police officer showing a prison cell in the renovated building. (Image: AFP via Getty Images)
It was argued that the presence of the police as guardians of civil liberties would be the best use for the building.
In the end, the police station plans got the go-ahead, and the building was given a major overhaul. The ochre-yellow was turned white, the arched windows were replaced by simple rectangular shapes and the facade was extended upward towards the roof.
Debris from the construction was disposed of at a secret location to ensure it would not become a new source for Nazi memorabilia, APA reported.
In the past, far-right extremists repeatedly paid homage to Hitler, photographing the building, taking stones as souvenirs and laying flowers and wreaths.
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The opening ceremony for the new police station took place on Wednesday, July 22, 2026.
Speaking at the event, Austria’s interior minister, Gerhard Karner, said: “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.”
An existing memorial stone recognising the victims of Hitler's regime remains outside the building, bearing the inscription, “For freedom, democracy and liberty. Never again fascism. Millions of dead remind us”.
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