Hitler house in Austria ‘to be demolished’

The Austrian government is looking to pass a law to allow it to tear down Hitler’s birthplace (pictured)

The house where Adolf Hitler was born is set to be demolished to stop it becoming a focal point for neo-Nazis.

The future of the former guesthouse has been widely debated in Austria, where opinion was torn between tearing it down or changing its use.

The argument was further complicated after its owner refused to sell.

But Interior Minister Wolfgang Sobotka said a committee of experts had decided that the house should be demolished, reported Austrian newspaper Die Presse.

A new building put in its place will be used for administrative or for charitable purposes, the paper added.

“The Hitler house will be torn down. The foundations can remain but a new building will be erected. It will be be used by either a charity or the local authorities,” Wolfgang Sobotka told Austrian newspaper Die Presse.

The house has been the subject of years of legal wrangling between the owner and the government, which has been renting it since 1972 and currently pays about €4,800 ($5,300; £4,100) a month for it.

But the woman who owns it, who is now retired, has repeatedly refused to sell the three-storey building in Braunau am Inn to the government.

But Austria’s parliament is soon expected to pass a new law allowing it to seize the house from its owner.

BBC