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The Hitler birthplace memorial stone, a memorial to victims of the Nazis, is placed in front of Salzburger Vorstadt 15, Braunau am Inn, Upper Austria, the building where Adolf Hitler was born in 1889.
At the time of Hitler's birth, the building was a modest guest house, where Hitler's parents rented rooms in connection with his father's job as a minor customs official at the nearby Austrian–German border. The Hitlers lived in the building only until Adolf was three years old, when his father was transferred to Passau.
After World War II, the building was rented by the Austrian Republic in 1952 and obtained heritage protection as part of the historic city centre. Until 1965, it was the home of the public library and later a bank. From 1970 to 1976, several classes from the technical high school were held in the house, until the school was rebuilt. The house then for many years accommodated a branch of the charity "Lebenshilfe", and operated as a day centre and workshops for people with learning difficulties. After the charity left the building in 2011, it remained empty. As of 2016, the Austrian government intends to expropriate the owner and to demolish the building. [1] A special expropriation law was adopted. [2] [ needs update ]
Suggestions regarding making Hitler's birthplace a place of remembrance for the victims of Nazism had already been made in the early years after the war. For a long time, the council discussed putting up a memorial tablet on the house, and in 1983 the decision was made by the then mayor Hermann Fuchs, with intervention from Culture Advisor Wolfgang Simböck. However, the memorial tablet was not attached, because the owner (who had no connection to Hitler) felt that it would be an intrusion on her rights of ownership. She successfully opposed it in court because of her fear of unwelcome attention or attacks from anti- or Neonazis.
In 1989, the new mayor, Gerhard Skiba, took the initiative. In April 1989, (two weeks before the centenary of Hitler's birth) a memorial was placed directly in front of the house on public ground. [3] The stone for the memorial came from a quarry on the grounds of the former Mauthausen Concentration Camp, near Linz, Austria. The inscription on the memorial reads:
FÜR FRIEDEN, FREIHEIT
UND DEMOKRATIE
NIE WIEDER FASCHISMUS
MILLIONEN TOTE MAHNEN
For Peace, Freedom
and Democracy.
Never Again Fascism.
Millions of Dead are a Warning.
The official name of the memorial is the "Memorial Stone Against War and Fascism". It appears as the Mahnstein ("Remembrance Stone") on street maps.[ citation needed ]
Braunau am Inn is a town in Upper Austria on the border with Germany. It is known for being the birthplace of Adolf Hitler.
Alois Hitler was an Austrian civil servant in the customs service, and the father of Adolf Hitler, dictator of Germany from 1933 to 1945.
Klara Hitler was the mother of Adolf Hitler, dictator of Nazi Germany.
Andreas Maislinger is an Austrian historian and political scientist and founder and former chairman of the Austrian Service Abroad. He also is the founder of the Austrian Holocaust Memorial Award, the Braunau Contemporary History Days and the inventor of the idea of the House of Responsibility.
The Innviertel is a traditional Austrian region southeast of the Inn river. It forms the western part of the state of Upper Austria and borders the German state of Bavaria. The Innviertel is one of the four traditional "quarters" of Upper Austria, the others being Hausruckviertel, Mühlviertel, and Traunviertel.
The House of Responsibility (HRB) in Braunau am Inn is the idea of establishing an international meeting place and a place of learning in the birth house of Adolf Hitler. People from all countries, backgrounds, religions and cultures should meet in order to discuss, learn and develop projects revolving around the concept of responsibility relating to the dimensions of past, present and future. The main demography shall be young people. The idea for a House of Responsibility originates from the founder of the Gedenkdienst and chairman of the Austrian Service Abroad Dr. Andreas Maislinger.
Gerhard Skiba of the Austrian Social Democratic Party was elected mayor of the city of Braunau am Inn in 1989. He became internationally known after setting up a memorial stone for the victims of Fascism in front of the house where Adolf Hitler was born.
Bezirk Braunau am Inn is a district of the state of Upper Austria in Austria.
Egon Ferdinand Ranshofen-Wertheimer was a diplomat, journalist and doctor of laws.
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Austria was part of Nazi Germany from 13 March 1938 until 27 April 1945, when Allied-controlled Austria declared independence from Nazi Germany.
Trapp Family Austrian Relief, Inc. is an initiative founded by Georg von Trapp and Maria von Trapp of the famous Austrian singing family, the Trapp Family, and which was an integral part of the effort to promote the Austria victim theory.
The Braunau Contemporary History Days are a series of conferences organised by the association for contemporary history. Scientifically guided by Andreas Maislinger, it has annually taken place in Braunau am Inn since 1992.
The Hitler family comprises the relatives and ancestors of Adolf Hitler, an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the Nazi Party. He was the dictator of Germany, holding the title Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and was also head of state as Führer und Reichskanzler from 1934 to 1945. He is noted for his central role in the rise of Nazism in Germany, provoking the start of World War II, and holding ultimate responsibility for the deaths of many millions of people during the Holocaust.
Gunter Demnig is a German artist. He is best known for his Stolperstein memorials to the victims of Nazi persecution, including Jews, homosexuals, Romani and the disabled. The project places engraved brass stones in front of a former residence for a Holocaust victim who was deported and murdered by Nazi Germany. The memorial effort began in Germany and has since spread, with more than 100,000 stones placed across 26 countries in Europe.
Oliver Rathkolb is an Austrian historian and professor for contemporary history at the University of Vienna.
Adolf Hitler's Munich apartment was an apartment owned by Adolf Hitler, located at Prinzregentenplatz 16 in the German city of Munich, the birthplace and capital of the Nazi Party which was formed in Munich in 1920.
Adolf Hitler, dictator of Germany from 1933 to 1945, earned millions of Reichsmarks (ℛℳ) throughout his political career, mainly through sales of his book Mein Kampf and his combined Chancellor's and President's salaries. After coming to power, Hitler made himself tax-exempt.
Giorgio Frassineti is an Italian politician of the Partito Democratico (PD) and from 2009 to 2019 mayor of Predappio.
The Holocaust in Austria was the systematic persecution, plunder and extermination of Jews by German and Austrian Nazis from 1938 to 1945. An estimated 65,000 Jews were murdered and 125,000 forced to flee Austria as refugees.