HITLER DOSS HOUSE AXE

THE homeless shelter where Adolf Hitler spent his formative years is to be demolished. Vienna's Meldemann Street hostel is one of the last remaining landmarks of the Fuhrer's early life.

But next year, almost a century after mankind's greatest tormentor dossed on its harsh wooden bunks, the bulldozers are set to erase that slice of history.

Hitler moved to the Austrian capital in 1907 aged 18 and lived at the hostel from 1910 to 1913.

A poor, struggling artist, the dictator-to-be spent his time painting or starting political debates.

He was regarded by other residents as an "eccentric" who wouldn't socialise, never drank and couldn't talk about women.

One, Reinhold Hanisch, described Hitler as "too lazy" to do any real work.

In his book Mein Kampf, the Fuhrer later told how he "studied for pleasure" at the hostel.