Bavarian town votes to rename street honouring pro-Nazi former mayor

A town in southern Germany is to rename a street commemorating a former mayor with ties to Adolf Hitler's SA paramilitary organization. 

The town council in Allersberg, near Nuremberg, voted on Monday evening to change the street's name, reversing a decision made in 2021 to honour former mayor Wilhelm Burkhardt. 

The dispute emerged after research showed Burkhardt, who served briefly as the Bavarian town's mayor after World War II, was a member of the Sturmabteilung (SA). 

The group, known as the Brownshirts, served as the Nazis' paramilitary force in the 1920s and early 1930s before it was purged by Hitler in 1934. 

The controversy has been ongoing for several years in Allersberg, a town of some 9,000 residents, with a local citizens' initiative calling for the naming decision to be reversed.

Following an hours-long debate, the 21-member town council voted to rename the street. Four members voted to retain Burkhardt's name, including one from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) and two from the conservative Free Voters.