Hitler's childhood home in Austria
Hitler's childhood home in AustriaReuters

An Adolf Hitler lookalike has been arrested in Austria on charges of glorifying the Nazi era, local officials said Monday, according to the BBC.

The 25-year-old man, who reportedly calls himself Harald Hitler, had been seen having his photograph taken outside the house in Braunau am Inn in which Hitler was born.

He sported a side parting and Hitler’s trademark moustache and had recently moved to the town on the German border, police spokesman David Furtner told the BBC.

The police spokesman said this was not a joke or a piece of performance art, stressing, "The young man knows exactly what he is doing.”

Pictures of the man were published by Austria's Heute.at news website on Monday before he was arrested.

Glorifying the Nazi era is a crime in Austria.

In October, Austrian authorities decided to demolish Hitler's birthplace house in an attempt to stop it becoming a focal point for neo-Nazis.

Last month, the owner of the home announced she would go to the high court to challenge the government's right to take possession of the property.

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

As the Nazis began to lose control in 1944, it was shut, however.