AKIPRESS.COM - Adolf Hitler's birthplace will turned into a base for a disability charity, it has been announced.

The decision comes a day after Austria's parliament passed a law allowing it to seize the house following years of controversy, BBC reported.

Owner Gerlinde Pommer had repeatedly refused to sell the building in Braunau am Inn, or allow renovations.

There had been calls for the building to be pulled down to prevent it becoming a shrine for neo-Nazis.

But on Thursday Interior Minister Wolfgang Sobotka, who had previously said he wanted to see it demolished, Braunau mayor Johannes Waidbacher and provincial governor Josef Puehringer met and decided to keep the building.

In a statement, the three said keeping it standing would be "a life-affirming message" and "a clear symbol against the crimes committed by Hitler".

Mr Puehringer added that destroying the structure where the Nazi dictator was born in 1889 would have fuelled accusations of "tearing down a piece of burdensome history".

Instead, officials want to remodel the property's facade to eliminate its draw, and are offering it to Lebenshilfe, a charity which supports people with learning difficulties.