Man Tears Hitler's Head Off

Posted on July 5, 2008

Reuters reports that a man tore the head off a wax figure of Hitler minutes after doors opened to the controversial exhibit. It was the opening day of the wax exhibit at Berlin's Madame Tussauds museum.

Just minutes after the museum opened, the 41-year-old German man pushed aside two security men guarding the exhibit.

"Then he went over to the figure and ripped off the head," a police spokesman said.

The man tore off the head in protest at the exhibit, the spokesman added. The police were alerted and arrested the man, who did not resist. He was later released though he remained under investigation for assault and damaging property.

The waxwork figure of a glum-looking Adolf Hitler in a mock bunker during the last days of his life was criticized as being in bad taste. A media preview of the new branch of Madame Tussauds on Thursday was overshadowed by a row over the exhibit.

Nazi symbols and art glorifying Hitler are not allowed in Germany, according to the Reuters story. The exhibit has generated a great deal of controversy, although as far as we know no one brought a legal challenge saying that the exhibit "glorified" Hitler.

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