Four people caught laying white roses outside Adolf Hitler’s birthplace

Four people were caught laying white roses at Adolf Hitler’s home in memory of the German dictator.

The four Germans – two sisters and their partners, all in their 20s and early 30s – visited the home in western Austria, on Saturday.

They all posed in front of the building to mark the anniversary of Hitler’s birth and one of the women gave a Nazi salute.

Officers noticed the people and took them all to a police station for questoning.

While the woman who gave the salute said she didn’t mean it seriously, officers found a chat with the others on her phone in which they shared Nazi-themed messages and pictures.

Police reported all four people to prosecutors on suspicion of violating the Austrian law that bans the symbols of Nazism.

Hitler was born on April 20 1889 in Braunau am Inn.

Work started last year to turn the building he was born in into a police station to detract Hitler supporters from visiting the site.

The Austrian government announced plans in 2016 to expropriate the house in order to keep it from falling into the wrong hands.

The house had been rented by the government for decades and it has served many purposes in the past, including being used as a library and for high school classes.

A care centre for adults with disabilities moved out in 2011, and the owner at the time was not interested in selling.

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