Hitler's hometown strips him of honorary citizenship

There is a move in many Austrian towns to revoke Hitler’s name from their list of honorary citizenry. The latest to join in is Hitler’s hometown, Braunau am Inn in Austria .

Many towns of Austria made Hitler an honorary citizen during the second world war. And most of them are now busy looking into their archives to see if he was bestowed that honor.

It all started with an announcement by the town of Amstetten that - more than 60 years after his death - it was finally revoking Hitler's honorary title. The media took up the call to find out which other towns had taken similar measures.

The town council of Braunau voted to revoke his citizenship as a precaution and any other rewards he may have been bestowed at the time of Austria’s annexation to Germany. Although it is believed all honours automatically revoked as Hitler took his own life in 1945.

“Although no archival evidence could be found for the city of Braunau am Inn’s awarding Adolf Hitler honorary citizenship, the awarding of honorary citizenship to Adolf Hitler is symbolically and as a precaution revoked and repealed,” the council said in a statement cited by the Austria Press Agency.

We revoked the citizenship preventively, to solve the issue once and for all, Green party councilman Manfred Hackl told the German news agency dpa.

Hitler was born in the community of Ranshofen in 1889 which was incorporated into Braunau in 1939. It was his village Ranshofen which awarded him an honorary citizenship in 1933.

The mayor of Klagenfurt, use emergency powers to strike Hitler’s name from the city’s honorary citizens.
If it should emerge that Adolf Hitler ever received an honorary citizenship of the provincial capital Klagenfurt from anyone - a supposition which lies before us - this is officially revoked and disallowed reports BBC

The announcement seems to have sent the Austrians looking into their association with Nazis. Historians and politicians are all delving into past archives to find out if their town or city has any such citations.

Austria is still not comfortable with its association with Nazi Germany during World War II. Families have relatives still alive who fought on Germany’s side and outright condemnation is not easy.

Recently, Austria decided to honor soldiers who deserted from Hiitler’s army, the Wehrmacht.A war memorial is planned in Vienna in their honour.

Since the 1980s Austria has taken several steps to acknowledge its role as a participant in the atrocities that the Nazis perpetrated.

Incidentally, Amstetten is the same town where Joseph Fritzel imprisoned his daughter for 18 years in his basement and fathered seven children with her.