The Viennese homeless hostel where Adolf Hilter lived as a struggling artist for two years has been sold in auction to a company called Toman for 2.8m euros.

There was heightened concern from many campaigners in Vienna that the auction of the hostel would result in the site being turned into some kind of ‘morbid tourist attraction’ or a ‘Hitler Hotel’ but Toman has confirmed that it will turn the former hostel into a nursing home instead.

Until the hostel closed in 2003, thousands of tourists visited the site on Meldemannstrasse.

It is believed that the hostel was where Hitler began to radicalise his anti-semitic feeling after being rejected by the Viennese Academy of Fine Arts. Hitler believed his rejection was due to the dominance of Jews at the academy. Details: www.wien.gv.at