Court Upholds Right of Austrian Government To Seize House Where Adolf Hitler Was Born

VIENNA (AP) – Austria’s highest court has ruled the government was within its rights to seize the house where Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler was born in 1889 after its owner refused to sell it.

The Constitutional Court ruled Friday that the government had “full authority” to expropriate the house in Brauau am Inn, near the German border.

It said in its ruling that “the expropriation of the birthplace of Adolf Hitler in Braunau by law was in the public interest, proportionate, and not without compensation and is thus not unconstitutional.”

The government wants to remodel the property’s facade to reduce its draw for neo-Nazis and to offer it to an agency that runs workshops for disabled people.

Owner Gerlinde Pommer challenged the expropriation, saying purchase offers were too low.