Braunau, Austria --

Living space in Braunau is scarce, but an imposing Renaissance-era building stands empty in this postcard-pretty Austrian town because of the sinister shadow cast by a former tenant: Adolf Hitler.

With its thick walls, huge arched doorway and deep-set windows, the 500-year-old house near the town square would normally be prime property. Because Hitler was born here, it has become a huge headache for town fathers forced into deciding what to do with a landmark so intimately linked to evil.


The departure reignited debate on what to do with the house that burst from the town hall chamber into the public domain last week after the mayor declared that he preferred creating apartments over turning the building into an anti-Nazi memorial.

"We are already stigmatized," Johannes Waidbacher told the Austrian daily Der Standard. "We, as the town of Braunau, are not ready to assume responsibility for the outbreak of World War II."

That sparked a storm of criticism, with Waidbacher accused of trying to bury memories of the Nazi past.

The comments were particularly ill-received due to the fact that Braunau's town council withdrew honorary citizenship from Hitler only last year, 78 years after the Nazi dictator was given the accolade - as did nearly a dozen other towns and cities after checking their archives.

Stung by the criticism, Waidbacher has since stepped back, saying he can conceive of "all possible uses" for the building.

Nonetheless, concerns about the building's fate continue to reverberate on the ancient cobble-stoned streets of this town of 16,600.

One major fear: The house could fill up with Hitler worshipers if converted into living space.

Town council member Harry Buchmayr noted that most visitors are not normal tourists but neo-Nazis stopping to pay homage to Hitler.