I have no doubt, Nazi sympathizers exist in Europe, to this day.
But point of fact. Who is maintaining the gravesite of Alois and Klara Hitler in such good shape? I find it hard to believe people can secretly maintain a gravesite as notorious as this, never identified, for decades.
Is it really outside Nazi sympathizers, or is it simply the local authorities doing the same for all the graves in that cemetery?
The well-tended grave has been used as an example of persistent Naziism in Europe. Though I don’t doubt that Nazis and other explicitly racist far-right parties exist in Europe, I’m not sure if this can be used as an example. It may be no more an example of Naziism in Europe than a well-maintained Confederate cemetery is an example of resurgent interest in American chattel slavery.
Some might say that since his parents were not Nazis and though the father was a jerk they didn’t necessarily do anything wrong so maintaining their grave is something that is done simply out of respect for the dead. Perhaps the cemetery maintains it the same as any other grave site.
While this is in Austria and not the United States, it is generally not uncommon that laws exist requiring cemeteries to maintain “perpetual maintenance trusts” which in theory can provide for the permanent and eternal upkeep of the cemetery. The theory is that you put enough money aside from each sell of a plot into a maintenance trust that investment income from the trust is enough to cover ongoing operating expenses once the cemetery is 100% filled and new “customers” aren’t coming in.
That being said there are a patch work of regulations in the U.S. and that’s why you can find some totally dilapidated cemeteries. Occasionally local authorities will pass ordinances to rehabilitate old and run down cemeteries and properly care for them, and most modern cemeteries are required to be kept up going forward.
If a cemetery is on church grounds the church typically assumes responsibility for perpetual maintenance and it would be highly uncommon for a still functioning church to allow an on-site cemetery to decay into ruins. So it’s not necessarily indicative of anything that the graveyard is well maintained. Many graves from 1900 are still well maintained, while many have fallen into ruins, it would depend on the specific laws and situations of each cemetery.
Sorry, I titled the thread wrong in that detail. Yes, Alois was a stepfather, not biological father.
And no, I’m not saying they intended to make Adolf what he became, nor am I saying the grave does not deserve the same attention as anyone else.
I’ve heard it mentioned, by historians, that the grave gets BETTER attention than anyone else. It has been suggested this is due to the efforts of European neo-Nazis.
Elmer J. Fudd: “Maybe it just looks better maintained because the cemetery caretakers tidy things up each time they find someone has kicked over the tombstone.”
There might be something to that, in the sense that there must be a lot of traffic to the site, relative to any other nearby early 20th century burials. I do notice in the picture, the pathway is enlarged just for that grave. I would imagine tourist traffic tramples the grass.
I’ve heard it written, specifically, that the the gravesite is SECRETLY maintained by neo-Nazis.
I’m going with the null hypothesis, that the gravesite is as well maintained as neighboring gravesites, and it’s the policy of the church graveyard. That it’s NOT a neo-Nazi shrine, that it’s NOT being maintained in any special way, by European neo-Nazis. I’m throwing out the question to this group, to see if there’s any evidence to the contrary.
When a relative of mine was buried, one of those trusts was offered only as an extra and it was very expensive. I don’t remember how much, but it was in the thousands.
So noted, I got it wrong…Alois was the biological father. I don’t know where I got the idea he was a stepfather. Thanks, I think I finally got that straight.
That’s some overkill, IMO. If I were one of them, knowing that only my mom & dad knew our infamous heritage, I’d just keep it to myself and try to have a normal life. Unless they subscribe to a theory that such depravity existed in their genes, and didn’t want to pollute the human gene pool any longer.
Thus showing that they think good old Uncle Adolf’s theories about genetic traits were right? Better to have lots of “normal” kids, I’d think.
Austria is fanatically paranoid about its connection to the Third Reich and Hitler, far more so than Germany. Germans know and accept their part in history and that’s that, they are not proud nor ashamed, they have moved on (without forgetting). Try mentioning in Austria anything about the third Reich and they will portray themselves as victims and that it was nothing to do with them. Remind them where Hitler was from, and they are almost in denial, they are along way from coming to terms with it.
I guarantee that no secret Neo-Nazis are tending graves, they’d be exposed and dealt with harshly, as are any Revisionists and the like. Germans might find Basil Fawlty’s Nazi goose-stepping funny, having slowly and painfully dealt with the past and moved on, but not Austrians, there’s nothing funny to them about that period, and there’s no debates to be had. (Their laws are so draconian re the Third Reich, they make it more like the Third Reich than a modern democratic country, but foolish is the person who says it out loud!)
It’s their dirty little secret (which, of course, isn’t a secret to anyone).
I imagine the graves are tended well from civic pride, especially if there is a bit of naturally curious traffic. Otherwise the place would soon look like Jim Morrison’s grave…what a dump.
The July 17 2000 issue of The New Yorker had a long article on Hitler’s relatives, some of whom wound up in Long Island, NY. An abstract of the article is on line. (The full article is available by sign up, or at libraries near you. :))
I was once with a bunch of Swiss and Bavarians on business in Munich and out for a few beers. One thing the Swiss and Bavarians had in common was using the Austrians as the but of their humour.
I had to chuckle at the nice bit of almost British understatement when one of the Germans remarked as if in passing, “Well of course we had an Austrian Prime Minister once. [pause]. It did not work out so good.”
[nitpick]Germany has never had a prime minister, Austrian or otherwise. It does, however, have a somewhat analogous position known as the Chancellor.[/nitpick]
Yeah, well, that makes the joke not work. It’s like that thing with ignorance, Corn Flakes, and General Mills: I’m willing to accept the slight factual inaccuracy for the purpose of funny.