Workers are completing the renovation of a house in the center of Braunau am Inn, northwestern Austria, near the German border, to convert it into a police station. Officers are expected to move in during the second quarter of this year.

However, this project is controversial because it is the house where German Nazi leader Adolf Hitler was born on 20/4/1889 and lived for a short period. In front of the house stands a memorial stone inscribed with: "For peace, freedom, and democracy. Never again fascism. Millions of dead are a warning".

The Austrian government passed a law in 2016 to expropriate the building from its private owner. Previously, the interior ministry rented the property as a center for people with disabilities, but it was later abandoned because the owner refused renovations. Ultimately, the government decided to transform this sensitive site into a police station.

Workers renovate the house of Nazi leader Hitler in Braunau am Inn, Austria on 17/2. *AFP*

Wolfgang Leithner, a 57-year-old electrical engineer, believes converting the site into a police station "will hopefully bring some peace", preventing it from becoming a gathering place for far-right extremists.

"It makes sense to hand the building over to the police, for use by public authorities", he stated.

Meanwhile, Sibylle Treiblmaier, a 53-year-old resident of Braunau am Inn, described the government's decision as a "double-edged sword". She noted that while the plan might deter far-right gatherings, she believes it "could be used in a better way".

Author Ludwig Laher, a member of the Mauthausen Committee Austria, an organization representing Holocaust victims, called the transformation into a police station "controversial". He argued that police in any political system are tasked with protecting the state's interests.

He mentioned a previous proposal to convert the house into a meeting place for discussions on peacebuilding. This idea received significant support but was never realized.

Meanwhile, Jasmin Stadler, a shop owner in Braunau am Inn, criticized the renovation cost of converting the house into a police station, which amounts to 20 million euros (approximately 24 million USD).

Austria, a nation annexed by Nazi Germany in 1938, has often faced criticism for not fully acknowledging its responsibility in the Holocaust.

Across Austria, debates about confronting the Holocaust frequently arise. Approximately 65,000 Jewish people in Austria were murdered, and about 130,000 others were forced into exile during the Nazi era.

Thanh Tam (*AFP*)