LINZ —  Officials in Linz, Austria's third-largest city, said they have removed a statue of Aphrodite from a park after learning that it was a gift from Hitler.

City officials said they looked into the background of the statue after someone left a note on it that read, "Gift from Adolf Hitler." When historians checked the city archives, they learned on Friday that the claim was indeed true.

The bronze statue had been on display since 1942 in a park in Linz, about 120 miles west of Vienna.

Hitler was born not far from Linz, in the Upper Austrian town of Braunau am Inn.