The bones of Adolf Hitler's deputy, Rudolf Hess, have been removed from their grave in a small Bavarian town that had become a pilgrimage site for neo-Nazis.
Before dawn Wednesday, workers exhumed Hess's bones from the grave in the Wunsiedel cemetery, then cremated the remains and scattered them secretly in a lake, whose name and location are not being divulged, cemetery administrator Andreas Fabel told The Associated Press.
"The grave is now empty," he said on Thursday. "The bones are gone."
Hess was captured in 1941 when he parachuted into Scotland on a mission to negotiate peace between Britain and Germany.
The attempt was denounced by Hitler, and Hess later told British authorities that the Nazi leader knew nothing of it.
In recent years, Hess has come to be seen as a martyr by the far-right and thousands of neo-Nazis have used the anniversary of his death as an occasion hold large rallies, with Wunsiedel – near the Czech border – often a focal point.
Most such rallies have been banned since stricter laws were implemented in 2005, but the grave continued to attract far-right extremists to the town.
With the lease on the burial plot coming up for renewal in October, Hess's relatives and Lutheran church authorities in the town decided it was best to remove the remains, Fabel said.
"Both sides were in favor of it," he said.
Link:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/21/rudolf-hess-adolf-hitler-deputy-bones-exhumed-burned-_n_905590.html
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