Austrian gov't mulls demolition of Hitler's birth home

Austrian leaders are mulling over what to do with the home in which Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler was born, after passing legislation in cabinet Tuesday to expropriate it from its current owner.

Austria Press Agency reported that Minister of the Interior Wolfgang Sobotka is continuing to push for the house, located in Braunau am Inn in the state of Upper Austria, to be demolished, with considerable support from other parties including the country's Jewish community.

Both Chancellor Christian Kern and Vice-Chancellor Reinhold Mitterlehner have however indicated they are not in favor of this, pointing out practical problems with its status as a historical site.

Mitterlehner said in his view a project with "educational value," such as a museum, could be established in the building instead.

Sobotka however argues that the building's worthiness as a historical site does not exist, other than that it may have been regarded as having had this during the Nazi era.

The head of the Documentation Center of Austrian Resistance (DoeW) Gerhard Baumgartner meanwhile said in an interview with the radio program Morgenjournal on station Oe1 that the site should be "de-politicized," and something such as a supermarket be constructed there instead.

He argued that the loss of the building were it demolished would be minimal, and that this would also prevent it from being a pilgrimage site for Neo-Nazis.

While nothing has yet been decided, Sobotka said a commission set up for the very purpose of determining what to do with the building has been convening for some time. As soon as the expropriation from the current owner has been finalized, proposals must be put on the table, he said. Endit