Guardian Monday March 12, 2007

A German town has been forced to make the embarrassing admission that Adolf Hitler is still one of its honorary citizens just three months before it is due to host the G8 summit.

Bad Doberan on Germany’s Baltic coast is under pressure from leftwing campaign groups to revoke the honour given to the Nazi leader, ahead of the meeting.

The small spa town, four miles from the meeting’s centre in Heiligendamm, will host many of the fringe meetings of the G8, as well as provide accommodation for thousands of guests and journalists.

According to the town’s records, Hitler was awarded the honour in 1932, a year before the Nazi takeover of Germany, because his party, the NSDAP, had secured an absolute majority. Bad Doberan was the first municipality in Germany to award Hitler this honour. It later became standard practice across the country.

While most towns have long since revoked the honours, in Bad Doberan the issue was apparently forgotten. Town elders say this was largely because the town was in communist East Germany, which did little to expose its Nazi past.

Following the fall of the Berlin wall, it was on the town council’s agenda but, according to local leaders, was not dealt with “due to missing documents”.

Attempting to explain the town’s lack of action, one clerk said: “You can’t dissolve a marriage if you don’t have the marriage certificate”. But critics have said all that is needed is a statement by the town’s representatives.

Leftwing campaigners have exposed the issue with just months to go before the G8. A decision is expected at a meeting of the ruling Christian Democratic Union on April 2.
Kate Connolly in Berlin
Monday March 12, 2007
The Guardian