A large gravestone at the burial place of Adolf Hitler’s parents in the Austrian town of Leonding has been taken down because it had become a “pilgrimage site” for neo-Nazis, German news agency DPA said on Thursday.
The DPA cited a statement by Hitler’s distant relative, who used to tend to the grave and expressed concern that it “had been repeatedly abused for expressions of sympathy.”
"Considering all this, I have decided to give up the usage rights," the elderly woman wrote in a statement quoted by Leonding's Catholic priest Kurt Pittertschatscher.
According to the priest, someone has recently placed a vase with the symbol for the Third Reich's paramilitary SS unit on the resting site of Alois and Klara Hitler, while a plaque commemorating their son's 120th birthday was found there in 2009.
In addition, local residents have reported busses loaded with Nazi sympathizers visiting the site.
The gravestone has been dismantled with the consent of the Catholic Church but the remains of Hitler’s parents will stay in the ground.
For similar reasons, the German community of Wunsiedel removed the remains of Hitler's deputy Rudolf Hess last year, DPA said.
