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Hitler's birthplace revokes dictator's citizenship

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Hitler's birthplace revokes dictator's citizenship
The house where Adolf Hitler was born in Braunau. Photo: DPA

Sixty-six years after the end of World War II, Nazi leader Adolf Hitler has been stripped of his honorary citizenship in the Austrian city where he was born.

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The local council in Braunau, north of Salzburg, agreed unanimously to the move in a sitting on Thursday night, several Austrian newspapers reported Friday. Hitler was born in the upper Austrian city, whose full name is Braunau am Inn, in 1889.

Mayor Johannes Waidbacher said he was pleased with the unanimous vote, which had been a matter of priority for all the political parties in the city, daily Die Presse reported.

Uncertainty as to Hitler’s honorary citizen status had reigned even among experts right up until the vote. Relevant documents from the years 1938 to 1945 were missing from city archives. As a result there was no proof of the dictator’s citizenship.

However it is regarded as certain that Hitler received his honorary citizenship from what was then the independent neighbouring town of Ranshofen. However, Ranshofen was subsequently annexed to Braunau in 1939. The decision Thursday night therefore technically scrapped Hitler’s honorary citizenship of Ranshofen.

The city council explicitly distanced itself from national socialist ideology. The terrible results of the Nazi period must never be forgotten, the council’s resolution stated.

Hitler was originally Austrian but applied successfully for his citizenship to be revoked in 1925. He was stateless for seven years but in 1932 gained German citizenship as a holder of public office in the free state of Braunschweig. In 1938, Germany annexed Austria.

DAPD/The Local/djw

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