(JTA) – Vienna city councillors removed the name of a notoriously anti-Semitic mayor from a section of the elegant Ring boulevard that encircles the heart of the city.
City Councilor Andreas Mailath Pokorny on Wednesday formally exchanged the street sign Dr. Karl-Lueger-Ring for one named Universitaetsring (University Ring) in honor of the university located there, The Associated Press reported.
Lueger was mayor from 1897 until his death in 1910. His anti-Semitic policies and use of economic anti-Semitism to win popular support were a major influence on Adolf Hitler, who lived in Vienna at the time.
Austrian Jewish leaders had praised the decision when it was announced in April.
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