#A to Z BBC Help Terms of Use BBC Accessibility links * Skip to content * Skip to local navigation * Skip to bbc.co.uk navigation * Skip to bbc.co.uk search * Help * Accessibility Help BBC News Europe * Home * UK * Africa * Asia * Europe * Latin America * Mid-East * US & Canada * Business * Health * Sci/Environment * Tech * Entertainment * Video 27 May 2011 Last updated at 21:08 GMT Share this page * Delicious * Digg * Facebook * reddit * StumbleUpon * Twitter * Email * Print Adolf Hitler 'honorary citizen' row grips Austria By Bethany Bell BBC News, Vienna Adolf Hitler. Photo: 1936 The debate has unsettled Austria, which is still grappling with the legacy of its Nazi past Continue reading the main story Related Stories * Vienna to honour WWII deserters * Austria still haunted by Nazi past * Hitler's vision for cultural capital Several towns in Austria have been checking their archives this week to see if Adolf Hitler is still an honorary citizen of their communities. It follows an announcement by the town of Amstetten that - more than 60 years after his death - it was finally revoking Hitler's honorary title. Hitler visited Amstetten - west of Vienna - in 1938, and was made an honorary citizen the following year. The Green Party sponsored the move to strike his name from the honours list. The decision was passed by a large majority in the town council. But two members of the far-right Freedom Party abstained. They argued the move was unnecessary, because they said the title expired with Hitler's death in 1945. Motion filed The debate has unsettled Austria, which is still grappling with the legacy of its Nazi past, and has sent historians and politicians rushing to check their archives. The mayor of the southern city of Klagenfurt, Christian Scheider, did not even wait for a debate on the issue, but used emergency powers to officially strike Hitler's name from the city's roll of honour. He said he wanted to distance Klagenfurt from the crimes of Nazism and had filed the following motion: "If it should emerge that Adolf Hitler ever received an honorary citizenship of the provincial capital Klagenfurt from anyone - a supposition which lies before us - this is officially revoked and disallowed." Historians in Klagenfurt have found Nazi-era newspapers that describe the ceremony honouring Hitler in 1938. Several other Austrian towns continue to argue about whether the honorary titles of Hitler and other prominent Nazis have expired or not. Amstetten shot to notoriety in 2008, when it was revealed that Josef Fritzl had imprisoned his daughter in a cellar in his house there and fathered seven children with her. More on This Story Related Stories * Vienna to honour WWII deserters 23 APRIL 2011, EUROPE * Austria still haunted by Nazi past 07 MARCH 2008, EUROPE * Hitler's vision for cultural capital 03 NOVEMBER 2008, EUROPE * Charges over Austria Nazi salutes 05 SEPTEMBER 2007, EUROPE * Austria probes 'army Nazi video' 04 SEPTEMBER 2007, EUROPE From other news sites * Mail Online UK 'I would do it all again': The last surviving 'righteous gentile' who hid Jews in Nazi Austria 23 hrs ago * Telegraph Vatican 'helped Nazis escape' 59 hrs ago * CHINAdaily City revokes Hitler's honor 26 May 2011 * Reuters UK Austrian town revokes Hitler's honorary title 25 May 2011 * The Independent The News Matrix: Wednesday 25 May 2011 25 May 2011 * About these results Share this page * Delicious * Digg * Facebook * reddit * StumbleUpon * Twitter * Email * Print More Europe stories RSS * Soldiers in Free Syrian Army in Damascus (27 Jan 2012) Russia: UN action could spur Syria war The Western-Arab push for a UN resolution on Syria could put the country on a "path to civil war", warns Russia's deputy foreign minister. * Search of cruise ship abandoned * Spanish court upholds Garzon case Top Stories * Soldiers in Free Syrian Army in Damascus (27 Jan 2012) UN action 'could spur Syria war' * Euro unemployment hits new record * Search of cruise ship abandoned * Republican rivals in Florida vote * French win India fighter jet deal Features & Analysis * Model cars and houses Golden salary What do people earning £1m ($1.5m) spend it on? ______________________________________________________________ * Planet Earth Planet mass Do rockets fired into space make the Earth lighter? ______________________________________________________________ * Occupy DC protesters shout slogans Day in pictures 24 hours of news photos from around the world ______________________________________________________________ * A foreclosure (repossession) sign in front of a house Money talks Has wealth become a liability in the US Republican race? ______________________________________________________________ Most Popular Shared 1. 1: Brits barred from US after tweet 2. 2: Skin transformed into brain cells 3. 3: Policeman who became a pole-dancer 4. 4: How 'Europe' became a dirty word in US election 5. 5: Pythons link to mammals decline Read 1. 1: Brits barred from US after tweet 2. 2: F1 driver Adrian Sutil convicted 3. 3: French win India fighter jet deal 4. 4: Navy sends destroyer to Falklands 5. 5: What do people on £1 million salaries do with their money? 6. 6: Search of cruise ship abandoned 7. 7: Pythons link to mammals decline 8. 8: Snake bursts after gobbling gator 9. 9: Is the Earth getting lighter? 10. 10: Euro unemployment hits new record Video/Audio 1. 1: Europe struggles in grip of snow Watch 2. 2: 'Shame on you Simon Cowell' Watch 3. 3: One-minute World News Watch 4. 4: Beijing's pole-dancing former policeman Watch 5. 5: One way to find a rich Russian husband Watch 6. 6: How computers help Sweden's ice sculptors Watch 7. 7: Mystery illness at US high school Watch 8. 8: Fear factor: The science behind America's red/blue divide Watch 9. 9: How to play 'kung fu' piano Watch 10. 10: Life after death faces legal battle Watch Elsewhere on BBC News * India's Tirupati Temple. 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