The former dictator of the Soviet Union, Joseph Stalin, lost his honorary citizenship of Nová Baňa in Banská Bystrica region after 64 years, as the newly-elected municipal council took the decision to withdraw the honorary citizenship from Stalin at its first meeting, the TASR newswire wrote.
Last August the same proposal submitted by the former mayor did not pass. The Soviet dictator was granted the honorary citizenship in 1947 as an act of gratitude for the liberation of the town by the Red Army. After 1989, people of Nová Baňa apparently forgot about the resolution from the war generation.
Former mayor Anna Miháliková wanted to cancel it last year but the proposal did not pass – by a whisker. Those who abstained from voting or who voted against the proposal claimed that Stalin, as chief of the Red Army, played an essential role in the liberation of the town.
Following November's municipal election, the new council cancelled the honorary citizenship by a unanimous vote.
Source: TASR
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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