History of Braunau am Inn
Nestled on the German border in Upper Austria is the town of Braunau am Inn. While it is well known for having produced Adolf Hitler, it is also rich in historical and cultural legacy. Adjacent towns Braunau am Inn and Simbach am Inn together constitute a cross-border urban core. Situated on opposing banks of the Inn River are them.
Braunau am Inn has its roots in the abbey of Ranshofen, which was built in the eighth century by the Bavarian ruler Tassilo III. After being included into the Carolingian Empire later on, the abbey became a well-known center of learning and culture. A deed from 1120 included Braunau, which was once known as Prounaw. It received town privileges formally in 1260.The town belonged to the Duchy of Bavaria up to 1779. The Treaty of Teschen did, however, cause it to shift status and become an Austrian town. Being the end of the War of the Bavarian Succession, this pact was important.
Being the main commercial and communication center between Bavaria and Austria, Braunau am Inn was strategically important. Perched on the lower Inn River, not far from its meeting point with the Salzach, the village functioned as a border crossing with the Bavarian state in Germany. About 60 kilometers (37 miles) north of Salzburg, it was well situated midway between the state capital Linz and the Bavarian capital Munich. Wars and conflicts that have shaped the town’s history include the Peasants’ War in 1525, the Thirty Years’ War in the 17th century, and the Napoleonic Wars in the 19th.Over these conflicts, Braunau am Inn had several ownership changes and was held by the soldiers of the Bavarian, French, and Swedish nations.
Being the location of many important events and the residence of many famous people, Braunau am Inn was extremely important politically and culturally. During the Bavarian rebellion against Austrian rule in the War of the Spanish Succession, the town hosted the Braunau Parliament in 1705.Lawyer and politician Georg Sebastian Plinganser, who was born in the neighboring town of Pfarrkirchen, presided over the parliament. An such instance is the execution of Johann Philipp Palm, a bookshop owner who was taken prisoner by French soldiers at the Braunau stronghold. Napoleon personally ordered his 1806 execution for high treason.Many Germans saw Palm’s publication of a booklet against Napoleon’s power as a valiant act of resistance.
Renowned as the birthplace of Adolf Hitler, the infamous head of Nazi Germany and a very important historical figure, Braunau am Inn. In a home near Salzburger Vorstadt 15, Hitler was born on April 20, 1889. One of his father’s jobs was customs official. Hitler never returned to Braunau am Inn after the family departed when he was three years old. Hitler was born at the address of the Braunau Contemporary History Museum. The museum presents displays that delve into a number of human rights and democracy-related subjects.Addressing the disturbing past of Hitler and Nazism, the museum also promotes tolerance and peace.
There is a rich and long history to Braunau am Inn. It has seen firsthand many noteworthy developments and occurrences, both locally and globally. Rich and dynamic, the town’s culture is a real mirror of its geographical and historical roots.There are many of chances to learn, explore, relax, and have fun in Braunau am Inn.
Adolf Hitler’s birthplace
20 April 1889 saw the birth of Adolf Hitler at Braunau am Inn. In the same village worked his father, Alois Hitler, as a customs agent. He moved to Braunau with his family in 1892.Hitler was born at the apartment building Salzburger Vorstadt 15. Apart from a craft brewery, this development had a number of rental apartments. Renting one of these apartments were Alois Hitler, his third wife Klara, their son Adolf, and his older half-siblings Alois Jr. and Angela.
A jubilant article on Hitler’s birthplace was published in April 1934 in the Passau Donauzeitung.The town of Braunau changed its name to Salzburger Vorstadt Adolf-Hitler-Straße and Adolf-Hitler-Platz in April 1938. The structure itself, however, carried on operating as a Gasthaus and prominently displayed a sign promoting the beer on tap.
The birthplace of Hitler has been converted into a public library and art museum. This conversion happened when Martin Bormann, Hitler’s personal secretary, bought the house for the Nazi Party.The US troops showed a film depicting the Nazi concentration camps after they took control of the facility at the end of World War II. 1952 saw the land restored to its rightful owners. These days, building houses a disability daycare facility, a technical college, and a public library. Since 2011, the residence has not been occupied. The Austrian Ministry declared intentions in 2014 to construct the “House of Responsibility” museum on the location of Hitler’s old home. The primary goals of the museum would be to record and instruct visitors on the horrors carried out by the Third Reich.
Braunau mayor Gerhard Skiba initiated the construction of a memorial stone in front of a building in April 1989. Just two weeks before Hitler turned 100, Austria took this step as part of its attempts to face and admit its past with National Socialism. Mauthausen concentration camp supplied the granite for the World War II memorial stone. ‘For Peace, Liberty, and Democracy’ it states. It is imperative that we never let fascism to win and to keep working for democracy, freedom, and peace. Along with discouraging “Hitler tourism,” the memorial seeks to The main lease on the building was taken over by the Austrian government in 1972 in order to stop it from becoming a pilgrimage destination. As things are, the government pays the present owner about 4,800 euros a month in rent. The Austrian government then announced that they would be demolishing the home and replacing it with a contemporary structure that bore no similarity to Adolf Hitler at all. A government-appointed committee recommended destruction, but the concept still needed to be formalized by legislation and a later legislative vote.Austrian Interior Minister Wolfgang Sobotka said on October 18, 2016, that the building will change so much that it will no longer be identifiable.
A plan to move or destroy the Salzburger Vorstadt 15 building was authorized by the Austrian government in October 2016. That year in July, the Austrian Parliament enacted legislation to take the house. As so, Gerlinde Pommer, the last private owner, was paid for the land. After the building was evicted in 2011, the Austrian government took over the primary lease and Pommer was paid €4,700 ($5,200) a month. Wolfgang Sobotka, the interior minister, has argued that the existing building should be demolished and then a brand-new one built. June 2020 saw the news that the structure will be renovated and converted into a police station.
Any honorary citizenship Hitler could have received in 1933 was decided to be revoked by the Braunau municipal council in 2011. There was no archive proof to back up the assertion that he had ever received it, hence the move was considered “precautionary.”
