A evil story
And what can the place do about it?
The house where Adolf Hitler was born on April 20, 1889, has a tumultuous history. Both owners and usage concepts changed multiple times over the past 100 years. Since October 2011, the house, which was privately owned until it was expropriated by the Republic of Austria in January 2017, has remained vacant.
In its current state, the house is associated with the criminal history of the Nazi regime and the person of Hitler, making it a focal point for both old and new Nazis. On the other hand, it is part of a historically protected urban ensemble in the city center of Braunau, making it difficult for visitors to identify. Many tourists inquire with locals about the location of the property.
The Nazi's portrayal of Braunau as Hitler's birthplace continues to have an impact on an international level. Journalists come to the city with the expectation of finding evidence of an overwhelmed small town and the activity of neo-Nazis. The debate about how to deal with the birthplace is primarily conducted through the media, with little interest in understanding its actual impact on the daily lives of the residents of Braunau. A local discourse process has been initiated and driven by the Association for Contemporary History since the 1990s.
With this design task, we do not aim to develop further usage ideas for the house itself. Instead, we are interested in the connection of a place with a negative, criminal history. At the beginning of our exploration, many questions arise:
What experiences, stories, and prejudices do we encounter when talking to the residents about the city of Braunau?
What does the connection between Hitler and his birthplace mean for the residents of Braunau today?
How can a reflective process be initiated that also engages the younger generation?
What methods exist to work with the local people?
What does all of this have to do with architecture?
What information do architects need beyond space programs and design objectives to respond to a sociopolitically sensitive/polarizing question?
What steps are (still) necessary before a concrete, spatially and materially manifested answer/solution can be provided?
What contribution can architects make due to their design and spatial expertise to a sociopolitical issue where place and historical politics are intertwined?
The connection of object, environment, history, city, and people, working on-site, working with memory, the perception of space, and self-awareness in space were at the center of the learning process.