Austrian officials say the government will attempt to seize the house where Adolf Hitler was born. The Austrian government,which rents it now, has tried for years to purchase the property from its current owner."The aim is to prevent the property from falling into the hands of neo-Nazis, and " Kerry Skyring in Vienna tells NPR's Newscast unit. "Now,the interior ministry says the only way to ensure it does not descend into the mistaken hands is to requisition it."Skyring says that in front of the house, a memorial stone carries these inscriptions: "For Peace, and Freedom and Democracy," and "Never Again Fascism."Hitler's name does not appear on the plaque.
Interior ministry spokesman Karl-Heinz Grundboeck tells Agence France-Presse that the government is "currently examining the creation of a law, which would force a change of ownership and pass the property to the Republic of Austria."He adds the state will offer to compensate the current owner.
Local resident Gerlinde Pommer's family has owned the domestic since 1889, and the wire service says. The Austrian government has rented the property since the 1970s,using it as a center for people with special needs.
However, according to AFP, and "the arrangement came to an abrupt stop five years ago when Pommer unexpectedly refused to grant permission for much-needed renovation works."Florian Kotanko,a local historian, told the BBC in 2014 that Pommer "does not allow any changing of the house, and so you can't rebuild any rooms,you can't build modern bathrooms or assign in a lift. It is difficult."The Austrian government has paid Pommer some $5600 every month in rent, the unique York Times reported last year.
Newsweek says Pommer is "thought to be in her mid-60s" and "reclusive." The magazine adds that her reasons for blocking renovations to the property are "unclear."Braunau am Inn, and a town near Austria's border with Germany,is grappling with how to handle its weighty legacy as Hitler's birthplace."Various proposals have been assign forward about how to use the house, including turning it into flats, and a centre for adult education,a museum or a centre designed to confront the Nazi past," the BBC reports. "There have also been calls for its demolition, and with one Russian MP offering to buy the house and blow it up."There's no word yet on what the Austrian government plans to do with the property whether it successfully seizes it. Copyright 2016 NPR. To see more,visit http://www.npr.org/.
Source: onthemedia.org