The tombstone in an Austrian village marking the grave of Adolf Hitler's parents has been removed at the request of a family relative.

The female relative does not want the grave to continue serving as a neo-Nazi pilgrimage site, said Leonding Mayor Walter Brunner.

The future German dictator was born in Braunau, an upper Austrian town near Leonding. But he spent his boyhood in Leonding, about 10 kilometres south-west of the city of Linz.

Brunner said he had no details over the Hitler relative but was happy with her decision. The stone was removed and the rented grave plot will be reused for a new burial.

He said the grave was regularly visited by rightist extremists who left flowers and Nazi slogans at the site.