Local government in the town of Jasło, south-eastern Poland want to fell and burn a 67 year-old oak tree that was planted in tribute to Adolf Hitler.

A sapling oak was brought to occupied Poland by the Nazis from Hitler’s home town in Austria in 1942, to celebrate the German dictator’s birthday.

The town mayor intends to plant a new tree on the same spot and dedicate it to the victims of the Katyn massacre, when Polish officers were murdered by Stalin’s NKVD police in Soviet Russia in April 1940.

Some inhabitants of Jasło are determined to protect the oak tree, however. They are led by Kazimierz Polak, one of the witnesses of the planting ceremony. It was Polak who brought this historical episode to light during a recent meeting of the local Town Lovers’ Society. According to him, the tree was planted on 20 April, 1942,  Hitler’s 53rd birthday. (mk/pg)