Austria will open a police station in the building where Adolf Hitler was born in 1889, aiming to end decades of public debate on how to prevent it from becoming a pilgrimage destination for far-right extremists.
The €20 million ($22.9 million) transformation follows nationalization of the building in Braunau am Inn, north of Salzburg on Austria¡¯s border with Germany. Interior Minister Gerhard Karner is set to officially open the new station on Wednesday.
A government-mandated commission of experts rejected proposals for a museum on the site due to the risk that a place of memory could be misrepresented by visitors. Plans to demolish were also blocked as the 17th century building is part of the town¡¯s historical center and under heritage protection ¡ª and the commission feared it would symbolize denial of the site¡¯s history.
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