Friday, December 20, 2013

Germany: Bavarian town rejects anti-Hitler vote (then changes mind)


On Tuesday the town of Dietramszell in Bavaria was supposed to distance itself from Hitler and other leading Nazis in a motion put forward by mayor Leni Gröbmaier. 
The move came after archivist Agnes Wagner found Hitler had been made an honorary citizen in March 1933, the Münchener Merkur newspaper reported. 
(...) 
“It would be a distortion of history, the whole debate is laughable,” said council member Traudi Fröstl. Another member Josef Hauser said: "Honourary citizenship goes with death. It is all a very long time ago."

More: The Local

After the story hit the news, the town had another vote:
And the failure of the motion attracted widespread criticism and international media attention.

But in a special meeting on Wednesday the council finally passed a motion which confirmed that Hitler lost his honorary citizenship with his death and recognized that the town had been associated with Hitler.

“It was never our intention to trivialize the crimes of Adolf Hitler. We underestimated that our voting behavior could be understood in such a way,” the council said, according to the Süddeutsche Zeitung. 

More: The Local


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