Hitler to lose German citizenship?

[Andy in West Oz]

Move to strip Hitler of citizenship | NEWS.com.au

SIXTY-TWO years after his death, Adolf Hitler risks being stripped of his German citizenship in what a politician said would be a "symbolic step" against the Nazi leader and the horrors he unleashed.
German media reported overnight a deputy in the state legislature of Lower Saxony, Isolde Saalmann, had convinced her fellow Social Democrats to file a motion to review whether the citizenship extended in 1932 can be rescinded.
Hitler, born in Austria, needed to become German to advance his political career in the much larger country.
His wish was granted in the city of Braunschweig on February 25, 1932, less than a year before Hitler became German chancellor.
Ms Saalmann, who represents Braunschweig, said she wanted to sever the city's notorious connection with the Nazi leader with her motion.
"If the state of Lower Saxony as the legal successor of the then free state of Braunschweig distances itself from it, it could be helpful," she told the Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper.
"We want to clear this up once and for all."
Hitler requested release from his Austrian citizenship in 1925 on the grounds that he had been living in Germany since 1912 and served in the German army in World War I.
Austria agreed and Hitler was stateless until officially becoming German seven years later.
When locals congratulated him on the step, Hitler replied, "It is not me but Germany that you should congratulate," the online version of Der Spiegel newsweekly said.
Ms Saalmann said that while she felt the gesture of rescinding the citizenship carried symbolic importance, she did not aim to whitewash the history of Braunschweig, which was a Nazi stronghold in the 1930s.
"This should never serve to play down history along the lines of 'Look, he wasn't a German at all'," she said. "That would never be my intention as a Social Democrat."
Although Braunschweig deprived Hitler of his honorary citizenship in 1946, one year after his death at the end of WWII, Spiegel Online said the motion to withdraw his citizenship could face a few daunting hurdles.
"Dead is dead," an unnamed official at the Lower Saxony justice ministry was quoted as saying. "You can't take anything more away then."
A decision on the motion is not expected for several weeks.

[Owen]

Horse bolt gate lock come to mind.

What exactly is this going to achieve for Germany?
I consider this a ridiculous step to take.

[Gotthard Heinrici]

They must really be getting serious grief in order to consider something like this. dead is dead though.

[spidge]

Sounds like an attempt at Pontius Pilotism.

What possible effect can this have on what occurred 62 years ago.

Good to see politicians there are just as stupid as everywhere else!

[Za Rodinu]

Hmm, interesting. Did AH ever renounce his Austrian citizenship before the Anschlüss? If he did the he becomes devoid of any nationality. What a neat trick to play on the bast***

[von Poop]

What a load of crap.
(s'cuse my Austrian.)

[marcus69x]

They should have done it when he was alive.

[Owen]

Originally Posted by marcus69x

They should have done it when he was alive.

Ah, now who you mean by "they"?
The German nation that Hilter "fooled" into his evil plan?
Back in the 1930s & 1940s Germany loved the man and what he stood for.
This seems to be yet another way of modern Germany portraying itself as the victim here.
Oh look they say, he wasn't a German but an Austrain who "made" us do these nasty things.
Rubbish!

I think this is more of a socio-psychological thing. It's their way of getting rid of him once and for all.
Won't work, but they feel the need to take away what he wanted the most while he was alive.

[Hawkeye90]

I agree with eveybody on the fact that it is absoulutly senseless.