The Austrian government has announced that it will demolish or completely remake the house where Hitler was born 127 years ago in the Austrian town Braunau am Inn. The news has brought a new round of unwanted media attention to the small locale on the Inn River near the German border.
The 17th-century building, part of the town’s historic fabric, has been empty since 2011. When the Hitler family lived there, the building contained apartments as well as a tavern on the ground floor. Most recently, it housed a center for people with disabilities. For decades, it has attracted Nazi sympathizers and curious tourists – an uncomfortable reminder of a time when locals proudly proclaimed their connection to the dictator.
The government, unable to reach an agreement with the owner, who refuses to sell, has already begun expropriation proceedings to legally seize the property. Interior Minister Wolfgang Sobotka announced that the house would be demolished down to the foundations or otherwise rendered unrecognizable through an architectural makeover. The aim, Sobotka says, is to stop neo-Nazi pilgrimages.
But sometimes demolition can do more harm than good. Before determining the fate of the building in Braunau am Inn, the minister should consider how neighboring Germany has handled its own troubled...
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