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David Duke Goes to the Birds in Austria

Former Ku Klux Klan leader runs nature photography business

By Will McCahill, Newser Staff

Posted May 15, 2009 5:45 PM CDT

(Newser) – David Duke appears to have traded in burning crosses for a high-powered camera lens, reports the Telegraph, which tracked the former Ku Klux Klan honcho to a village in Austria. The onetime US presidential candidate now sells photos of birds and other wildlife he’s taken as he traipses through the country that gave the world Adolf Hitler. “There is no evidence of criminal acts,” an official said of the government's leaving Duke alone—though neighbors aren’t as accommodating.

“The Austrian police have known he’s been here all along,” says a local politician, adding that he believes Duke has rented a house near Salzburg for 4 or 5 years. “Apparently he can live here unchallenged as he travels to other countries to help the far-right movement.” Says Duke, recently kicked out of the neighboring Czech Republic during a book tour: “I’m not in Austria for any political activities. I just come to Austria to relax.”

[Images (2)]

[Quotes (1)]

Former Ku Klux Klansman David Duke speaks at a news conference at the National Press Club in Washington in this Jan. 21, 2000 file photo. Behold the phantoms of the political opera. Kenneth Starr, dark... (AP Photo/File)

The Austrian Alps. (Flickr)

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The Austrian Alps are just beautiful. There's beauty all over the world. I'm a writer, photographer, a speaker, I do all sorts of things. - David Duke

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David Duke Goes to the Birds in Austria