Grave of Hitler’s parents dismantled

The grave of Adolf Hitler’s parents has been dismantled because it had become a memorial site for neo-nazis, a priest in the Austrian town of Leonding told German news agency dpa on Thursday.

A statement by an elderly woman related to Hitler who had tended the grave reads: “I am concerned that the grave of my forebears has repeatedly been abused for expressions of sympathy . . . “I have decided to give up the usage rights.”

In November, someone had 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.