Wax Adolf Hitler Causes Outrage

Plans to include an Adolf Hitler figure in the new Berlin branch of Madame Tussauds wax museum are being condemned by critics who say displaying the dictator is tasteless and could attract neo-Nazis.

Madame Tussauds, which is due to open its Berlin museum next month, argues Hitler is part of German history and deserves a place in the exhibition near the Brandenburg Gate.

“Our surveys show people want to see him because he belongs to Germany’s past,” said spokesman Natalie Ruoss.

Hitler would be featured as a broken man in a dark, bunker-like setting, with panels providing explanations on the dictator, Ruoss said, adding a figure of former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill would be shown in the same room.

Opponents of the Hitler waxwork say the man who led Germany into World War Two and ordered the extermination of Europe’s Jews should not be shown in the same style as popstars, statesmen and famous soccer players.

“It’s tasteless,” said Johannes Tuchel, from the Gedenkstaette Deutscher Widerstand, a memorial for opponents of the Nazi regime. “A waxworks museum is meant to entertain and to amuse. It’s not appropriate to have a Hitler figure there.”

Tuchel said Germany had many historical museums which informed citizens about the Nazi regime and the Holocaust, adding a waxworks exhibition could hardly provide the necessary explanation and context to treat this chapter of history.

“It’s embarrassing that this part of German history should be exhibited like this,” he said. “There’s also the danger that young people could try to take pictures with Hitler.”

source: Plans for Wax Hitler Spark Outcry [reuters]

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Wax Adolf Hitler Causes Outrage

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