Austrian architecture studio Marte.Marte Architekten has won a competition to convert Fascist dictator Adolf Hitler's birthplace into a police station in Braunau am Inn, a small town of 16,000 people in Austria. 

The three-story building has been in a battle of legal wrangling for years, the renovation plans were put in the schedule last November by Austria's Interior Ministry, and the officials spoke to CNN in a statement that they said the new renovation plans could help deter "National Socialist activity."

Hitler was born in this apartment on April 20, 1889, his father worked as a customs official in this small town. The family left Braunau am Inn, the town was then part of Austria-Hungary, when Hitler was three years old.

Selected team, with their modernized proposal, was revealed at a press conference held on Tuesday, June 2, 2020 by the Austria's Ministry of the Interior. 

The selected proposal features an extended gable roof with much more neutral color palette, which was replaced with the current yellow facade, to complement the existing buildings in the town.

Image © Marte.Marte Architekten

The authorities believe that the new building is to be "neutral" and will prevent it becoming a pilgrimage site for Nazi sympathizers.

"This year we are celebrating the 75th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, but also the beginning of a democratic development," said Interior Minister Karl Nehammer at the presentation on June 2, 2020 in Vienna. 

"You can recognize a country's democratic culture by dealing with its history, and it has taken Austria a long time to face up to its own history." 

In his time as interior minister, the police also face up to their past, said Nehammer, "because only those who know their past can shape the future." 

"Remembrance does not only mean remembering the past, but also drawing lessons for the future and acting accordingly."

Image © Marte.Marte Architekten

Hitler's birthplace will take on police services in the future

"That is why today we are opening a new chapter in dealing with our historical responsibility," emphasized the Interior Minister. 

"More than 140 years after the birth of Adolf Hitler, his birthplace in Braunau becomes an antithesis of everything he stood for: a place where democracy and human rights are defended, a place that offers security from persecution and a look behind enables peace and freedom in the front." 

"The police are a guarantee of democracy, which is why the Hitler birth house will house the district police command and police inspection Braunau am Inn after its redesign, said Nehammer. 

"With the result of the architecture competition to redesign the building with the address "Salzburger Vorstadt 15" After years of intensive work in Braunau there would be a clear perspective for the future of this historically charged place. "I am therefore pleased to be able to present this result to you today."

"In November 2019, an EU-wide architectural competition was launched by Bundesimmobilien GmbH on behalf of the federal government," said section head Hermann Feiner. 

"The suggestions in the competition were to implement the recommendation of two commissions and in future the building should be architecturally integrated into the existing ensemble of the suburb in Braunau." 

Adolf Hitler's house in the current situation. Image © Thomas Ledl/Wikimedia Commons.

The competition proposals were evaluated by an independent jury of experts, added the section head, who included not only architects, but also a representative of the city of Braunau, Bundesimmobilien GmbH (BIG), the federal government and the National Fund. 

"With the completion of the competition, all the key decisions relating to this property are completed," emphasized Feiner.

Renovation work of the building is expected to be completed in 2023, and to cost around €5 million ($5.6 million).

> via Austria Ministry of the Interior