It took 66 years, but the Austrian city of Amstetten has finally struck Adolf Hitler’s name from its list of honorary citizens.

Amstetten’s mayor Herbert Katzengruber said yesterday the city council agreed to do so “with a large majority”, with only the two representatives of the far right FPO party abstaining.

Although the fact that Hitler was on the list was well known, it took a demand from a member of the environmentalist Green party for the council to act.

Mr Katzengruber had earlier suggested he saw no reason to do anything, telling the Austria Press Agency that many experts held that honorary citizenship expired when a person died.

Like Amstetten, about 85 miles west of Vienna, many Austrian towns declared Hitler an honorary citizen after Nazi Germany annexed Austria in 1938.

Most – but not all – local authorities removed his name when the war ended in 1945.

Officials in Waidhofen an der Ybbs, near Amstetten, say Hitler’s name remains on their list of honorary citizens – but do not plan to formally remove it.