Since April 20, 1889, the tiny Austrian town of Braunau am Inn hasn't played much of a role on the world stage. It was then that the Nazi-dictator-to-be Adolf Hitler was born in the house at Salzburger Vorstadt 15.
These days, though, international eyes are again focusing on Braunau -- and it is not because of the drunk moped rider who attacked a policeman last week, nor is it because the town's former mayor, Gerhard Skiba, is set to appear in court soon on charges of borrowing money on false pretenses to fund an alleged gambling habit. Rather, it is the house which is playing the lead role once again.
As locals continue to debate what to do with the now-empty piece of real estate, a Russian parliamentarian has jumped in to the fray, saying he is seeking to raise €2.2 million ($2.8 million) to purchase the house. The parliamentarian, Frantz Klintsevich, is a member of President Vladimir Putin's United Russia party, and says that he would immediately demolish the house once he owned it.
"I would buy this property in the blink of an eye if I had that kind of money myself, but I do not," he told the Russian daily Izvestia last week. "If I were to receive financial help, I would buy the house and destroy it demonstratively."
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