A small German town council has finally voted to strip Adolf Hitler of honorary citizenship after criticism sparked by the officials’ failure last week to nullify the title awarded to the Nazi leader 80 years ago.
The full council of the Bavarian town of Dietramszell voted 21-0 to adopt a resolution that denounces the decision made in 1933, the year when President Paul von Hindenburg appointed Hitler as Chancellor, reports Associated Press.
The unanimity comes after last week’s vote which ended with them being split on the issue: eight voted for the motion initiated by the town mayor while eight said ‘no’.
“It would be a distortion of history, the whole debate is laughable,” said council member Traudi Fröstl, as cited by The Local news website. Another member, Josef Hauser explained his decision to vote against saying that “Honorary citizenship goes with death. It is all a very long time ago.”
However, authorities changed their minds after hearing impassioned testimony from a woman who lost her family in the Holocaust, town administrator Thomas Gerg explained on Wednesday.
The resolution on stripping Hitler of the title was put forward by Mayor Leni Gröbmaier in a move to distance Dietramszell from Hitler and other senior Nazis. It cropped up after an archivist found that Hitler, as well as von Hindenburg were both given the honorary citizenship of the Bavarian town.