Austria still fighting Hitler and Nazi legacy

Adolf Hitler's Austrian hometown revokes honour title

The debate has unsettled Austria, which is still grappling with the legacy of its Nazi past

Adolf Hitler's hometown in Austria has revoked the Nazi leader's honorary citizenship - even if he never may have been given it.

The council in Braunau am Inn decided to strip Hitler of any honour he may have received and which did not expire automatically after his death in 1945.

Hitler was actually born in Ranshofen in 1889, and the village made him an honorary citizen in 1933.

Ranshofen later became part of Braunau, and is now seen as Hitler's birthplace.
'Unnecessary' move

On Thursday, the council said in a statement that "no archival evidence could be found for the town of Braunau am Inn's awarding Adolf Hitler honorary citizenship", according to the Austria Press Agency.

But the statement added: "The awarding of honorary citizenship to Adolf Hitler is symbolically and as a precaution revoked and repealed."
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Local historians are still arguing whether the honorary title was transferable from Ranshofen to Braunau.

In May, another Austrian town, Amstetten, revoked Hitler's honorary title.

Several other towns across the country have been checking their archives this week to see if the Nazi leader is still an honorary citizen of their communities.

Some politicians argue that the move is unnecessary, because the title expired with Hitler's death in 1945.

The debate has unsettled Austria, which is still grappling with the legacy of its Nazi past, correspondents say.

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Vienna to honour Austria's Nazi army deserters
The Wehrmacht - or defence force - was Nazi Germany's army from 1935 to 1945

The Austrian capital Vienna has announced plans to erect a memorial in honour of soldiers who deserted from Adolf Hitler's army, the Wehrmacht.

The city council has yet to decide the exact location, but campaigners want it to be put in Heldenplatz (Heroes Square) alongside war memorials.

The square is also where Hitler, born in Austria, addressed crowds in 1938 when Austria was annexed to Germany.

The BBC's Bethany Bell says Austria is gradually confronting its Nazi past.

Two years ago Austria's parliament agreed to rehabilitate soldiers criminalised by the Nazis for deserting from the Wehrmacht.

The decision to erect a memorial was endorsed by the socialist and green parties which form Vienna's municipal government coalition.

Vienna Green Party leader David Ellensohn said the monument could be modelled on other memorials to Wehrmacht deserters in some German cities.
'Long overdue'

Analyst and campaigner Thomas Geldmacher told the BBC that the memorial was long overdue.

"For a very long time deserters have been completely neglected in Austrian society," he said.

"In large parts of the Austrian population deserters are still considered cowards, traitors, even comrade-killers. A monument - and especially the public debate around the erection of the monument - could somehow change that."

Mr Geldmacher said an estimated 15,000 to 20,000 Austrians deserted from the Wehrmacht, especially in the final days of World War II.

Since the 1980s Austria has taken a series of steps acknowledging the role its citizens played in Nazi atrocities.

Thanks, LL - I hadn't realised that anyone considered a criminal by the Nazis was still under some kind of taint?

bb1 wrote:Thanks, LL - I hadn't realised that anyone considered a criminal by the Nazis was still under some kind of taint?

there are still, unforunately, especially aming the elderly, prople who still admire Hitler and the Nazid, the same in Germany. But Austria has always had problems, far more in fact than the Germans, with coming to terms with what happened. When the present older generation has gone I think the Nazi legacy will fade with them. It is still these old people who urge the young people on to attack Jews, Moslems, etc, so when they are not there I think most of these younger neo-nazis will slowly forget the whole thing. LL