The Austrian government is grappling with how to prevent Hitler's birthplace from becoming a neo-Nazi shrine

Adolf Hitler's birthplace, as seen in 1970.
(Image credit: Paul Fievez/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

The three-story building where Adolf Hitler was born in 1889 will be seized by the Austrian government in an attempt to keep it from becoming a pilgrimage site for neo-Nazis.

Austria's parliament passed a law allowing the seizure after a long battle between the government and the building's owner, Gerlinde Pommer. For years, the Austrian government gave Pommer money so she wouldn't rent any rooms to outsiders, the BBC reports. She let a charity set up shop in the building, in the town of Braunau am Inn, but when she refused to allow renovations, the charity had to leave. Pommer will receive some form of compensation from the government, which now must decide what to do with the former guesthouse.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.