Austrian police arrests Hitler's lookalike for 'glorifying' Nazi leader

A Hitler lookalike has been arrested in Austria for glorifying the Nazi era, according to BBC News.

The 25-year-old, who calls himself Harald Hitler, was caught after photos of him emerged on social media, reported AFP. The photos showed him posing outside Adolf Hitler's birth house in Braunau am Inn in Austria, sporting a side parting and Hitler's trademark moustache.

The Austrian police spokesperson, David Furtner, told the media the man was arrested under a 1947 Austrian law that makes it illegal to promote the Nazi ideology. The official added it was obvious Harald was "glorifying Hitler".

The lookalike had recently moved to the town on the German border, added Furtner.

He added this was not a joke or a piece of performance art.

"The young man knows exactly what he is doing," the police spokesman said.

He said the man had also been spotted in Vienna and Graz.

Pictures of the man were published by Austria's news website, Heute.at, on Monday.

Glorifying the Nazi era is a crime in Austria.

According to BBC News, last October, the Austrian authorities decided to demolish Hitler's birth house to stop it from becoming a focal point for neo-Nazis.

Hitler was born in a rented room on the top floor of the building on April 20, 1889.

During Nazi rule, the house was transformed into a shrine to Hitler as the town drew in a wave of tourists.

But as the Nazis began to lose control in 1944, it was shut.