Adolf Hitler's birth house

The Adolf Hitler Birth House stands in Braunau am Inn in Upper Austria. It is a protected Biedermeier-style town house where the future dictator was born in 1889. The building’s fabric dates back to the 17th century when it served as a brewery inn with outbuildings and rented flats. Alois Hitler, a customs official, lived there with his wife Klara and their children until 1892. Historians still debate whether Adolf was born in the surviving front section or the long-demolished rear wing. The inn bore the sign ‘Zum braunen Hirschen’ until the late 19th century. The house became a focus of public debate after 1945. In 1952 the Republic of Austria took it on long-term lease and used it as a library, bank branch, technical school and finally a day centre for people with disabilities. After 2011 it stood empty while arguments raged over demolition, expropriation or conversion. In 2016 the government decided to take ownership so the building could never again promote Nazi ideas. Architects Marte.Marte redesigned the interior and in 2026 it reopened as a police centre. Visitors today find a plain façade with six window axes facing the Salzburger Vorstadt. Inside, the layout reflects its earlier life as flats and a brewery with small rooms and narrow corridors. The street level still shows traces of the inn’s cellars and service areas. Above, the upper floors retain their simple Biedermeier fittings despite later alterations. From the pavement there is little outward sign of the building’s troubled past, yet the address remains a place where history is quietly kept in check.