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Gravestone Of Hitler's Parents Dismantled In Austria


A local priest in Leonding, Austria says the grave of Adolf Hitler's parents has been dismantled after becoming a gathering site for neo-Nazis and far-right extremists.

Roman Catholic priest Kurt Pittertschatscher said on March 29 that an elderly woman -- distantly related to Hitler -- had been tending the grave of Alois and Klara Hitler.

But she has given up usage rights, saying it "has repeatedly been abused" as a pilgrimage site by Nazi sympathizers.

Buses full of far-right sympathizers regular visit the grave and leave Nazi memorabilia there, prompting anti-fascist activists to raise the issue with the church and Hitler's relatives.

The large gravestone has been taken away.

But the bones of Hitler's parents are to remain in the ground.

Pitterschatscher says the burial plot can now be used by another family.

Based on reporting by dpa

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