Hitler’s head ripped off at new Berlin wax museum

A 41-year-old Berliner had been arrested and faced charges of causing criminal damage and bodily harm, after he hit another visitor who tried to stop him, spokesman Uwe Kozelnik said. He was the second visitor to enter the museum.

Two museum workers tried unsuccessfully to prevent the man from jumping over a table in front of the figure and damaging it, and the assailant attacked on of them.

The man pushed aside the two museum employees and "ripped off the head of the Hitler figure," Kozelnik said on n-tv television.

"He wanted to protest against Hitler's figure being on show," Kozelnik said, adding that the model had been withdrawn from display for repairs.

The decision to portray the Nazi dictator among the 70 famous figures in German history in the museum has proved controversial in the country.

The presence of the Nazi dictators likeness in the new museum led to criticism in German media over recent weeks, but defenders of the plan argued Hitler's role in German history could not be ignored.

Last month, Berlin Mayor Klaus Wowereit urged the museum to consider carefully whether to include Hitler and, if it did, to ensure that he not be shown as a "cult figure."

The museum, which is near the German capital’s Brandenburg Gate, pledged to portray Hitler without glorifying him, as he would have looked shortly before his 1945 suicide.

It produced a likeness of the Nazi leader hunched over a desk in a dimly lit bunker. The figure, unveiled to journalists Thursday, showed Hitler - with deep lines furrowing his forehead - sitting beneath a map of Europe on the wall, monitoring the advance of allied troops from the east and west.

About 25 workers spent about four months on the waxwork, using more than 2,000 pictures and pieces of archive material and also guided by a model of the "Fuehrer" in the London branch of Madame Tussaud’s where he is standing upright.

Photo: AP