Doppelgänger ethics: Why Austria arrested a Hitler double

Austrian police have detained a man for violating a 1947 Austrian law that makes it illegal to promote Nazi ideology after he allegedly dressed like Adolf Hitler and stood outside of the home where the infamous dictator was born.

The accused, Harald Zen, has been referred to as "Hitler's double" by Austrian newspapers. Witnesses say they spotted him on multiple occasions in a 1940s-style suit and a haircut-mustache combination ripped directly from old photographs and newsreels of Hitler.

Mr. Zen, who once identified himself in a bar as "Harald Hitler," had been photographed in full Hitler regalia in Braunau am Inn, an Austrian town close to the German border and the birthplace of the dictator. Zen was arrested on Monday in front of the house where Hitler was born in 1889, which was recently acquired by the Austrian government.