A bell located high in the belfry of an Austrian castle is causing an uproar in the country by reminding its people of the country's dark past. The Hitler bell was put in place in 1939 as a way to honor the Nazi dictator. The special mention of Adolph Hitler engraved on the bell has gone unnoticed until now. The Austrian government recently sold the castle to Tobias Hufnagi.
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The Hitler bell was put in place by fans of the Fuhrer who wanted to praise Germany's 1938 annexation of Austria. According to the Associated Press during that time period many Austrian citizens were in support of the German takeover.
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The inscription on the bell praises Hitler as "the unifier and Fuhrer of all Germans." The Hitler bell also claims the dictator freed the land of "Ostmark," the German term for Austria. For the past 80 years the bell has rung out every hour in the small town of Wolfpassing, which is not too far from Vienna.
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Following WWII and the defeat of Nazi Germany, all Nazi materials were made illegal in Austria. The country is quite sensitive about its Nazi past. The Austrian government does not know how the bell was over looked. The new owner of the castle did not tell the government what he plans to do with the Hitler bell.
A senior official with Vienna's Jewish community, Raimund Fastenbauer told the AP he believes places in Austria that have not yet removed visible Hitler or Nazi relics are becoming a gathering place for neo-Nazis. Fastenbauer believes the bell should be removed from the belfry and buried someplace no one will be able to find.
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