Nazi row lawmaker refuses to quit


An Austrian legislator has retracted a promise to resign over remarks he made expressing sympathy to the Nazis.

Siegfried Kampl also said he would take up the rotating post of president of the upper house of parliament in July.

He had said he would relinquish his seat amid pressure from all sides after he deplored the "brutal persecution" of Austrian Nazis after World War II.

Last month, he said his father was a member of Adolf Hitler's Nazi party like "more than 99%" of Austrians.

He also referred to Austrian deserters of Nazi Germany's armed forces as "assassins of battle comrades".

More...