Published November 17, 2014
It took 66 years — but the Austrian city of Amstetten on Tuesday struck Adolf Hitler's name from its list of honorary citizens.
Amstetten Mayor Herbert Katzengruber said that city council agreed to do so "with a large majority," with only the two representatives of the far right FPO party abstaining.
Although the fact that Hitler was on the list was well known, it took a demand from a member of the environmentalist Green party for the council to act.
Katzengruber had earlier suggested he saw no reason to do anything, telling the Austria Press Agency that many experts hold that honorary citizenship expires when a person dies.
Like Amstetten, about 140 kilometers (85 miles) west of Vienna, many Austrian towns declared Hitler an honorary citizen after Nazi Germany annexed Austria in 1938.
Most — but not all — municipalities removed his name when the war ended in 1945.
Officials in Waidhofen an der Ybbs, near Amstetten, acknowledge Hitler's name remains on their list of honorary citizens — but say they do not plan to formally remove it.
They too argue that the status ends with the death of a person.
https://www.foxnews.com/world/austrian-city-withdraws-hitler-honor