World affairs

Local council don’t know what to do with Hitler’s house… no it’s not a bunker!

By Brian Moss

A row has erupted in Austria over a plan to turn Adolf Hitler’s house into a normal residence. Hitler was born in an inn located in the tiny town of Braunau near Salzburg next to the German border – he had a thing for borders in 1889 - and lived there for the first three years of his life. By all against he was a tyrant of a baby.

A retired local woman who now owns the property has rented it to Austria's federal interior ministry since 1972. Since Hitler lived there the house has had many identities serving as a library, a bank, classrooms and most recently a charitable organisation's workshop for handicapped people, which is perhaps the most ironic given old Adolf’s views on people with disabilities.

The town’s mayor Johannes Waidbacher caused a stir with a newspaper interview in which he proposed making the house into a standard residence.

"You have to ask in general whether another Holocaust memorial makes sense when there are already many around here," he said.

Although somewhat of a tourist attraction, the mayor is concerned it might attract the wrong type of people

“This house can never be allowed to become a shrine for die-hards," he said, but admitted the city had a limited say. "In the end the decision is up the interior ministry and the owner.”

Others in the town have suggested turning the property into a house of responsibility – that's a bit ironic!

Andreas Maislinger, a local historian and political scientist, has lobbied for years to turn the property into a state-owned "house of responsibility" that would serve as an international meeting place for young people.

We don’t know if the home of one of the world’s most prolific child murderers is the best location for a meeting place for the young but who are we to say!

It’s an interesting story that came our way via the Irish Times this morning. And we thought we had property problems here in Ireland … would you live there?