Adolf Hitler's place of birth 'symbolically' revokes dictator's citizenship

THE Austrian town of Braunau, Adolf Hitler's birthplace, has revoked the Nazi dictator's honorary citizenship - even if he was never actually awarded one.

The town council voted unanimously this week to strip Hitler of any honours he may have received and which did not expire automatically when he died in his Berlin bunker in 1945.

"Although no evidence could be found for the city 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citizenship, the awarding of honorary citizenship to Adolf Hitler is symbolically and as a precaution revoked and repealed," the council said in a statement.

The community of Ranshofen, where Hitler was born, made him an honorary citizen in 1933. Ranshofen was incorporated into Braunau in 1939. Braunau also revoked Hitler's right of residence awarded in 1938, the year Nazi Germany annexed Austria.

Many towns in Austria made Hitler an honorary citizen when he was in power, and a media uproar is prompting many to now reverse course. Amstetten revoked his honorary citizenship in May, triggering a furore when two council members abstained, saying the vote was unnecessary because the title ended with Hitler's death.