A waxwork of Adolf Hitler has sparked a row, with Madame Tussauds forced to isolate the model of the 'Fuehrer' at a new Berlin museum.
LONDON: A waxwork of Adolf Hitler has sparked a row, with Madame Tussauds forced to isolate the model of the 'Fuehrer' at a new Berlin museum.
Jewish groups fear that the waxwork, which will go on display alongside celebrities, pop stars, world statesmen and sporting heroes when the museum opens tomorrow, will glorify Hitler's reign.
Due to protests, the model of 'Fuehrer' with his arm outstretched on a large wooden table with a map, will be on display behind glass, which means visitors will be unable to have their pictures taken with it.
Madame Tussauds, however, felt that Hitler deserved a place in the museum due to his impact on German and world history.
Meike Schulze of the company promoting the Madame Tussauds in Berlin defended the decision to put the dictator on display, saying there was demand for his inclusion.
"Of course the figure will arouse interest but we hope people will realise he is part of an exhibition with a range of attractions," Schulze was quoted as saying by the Mail online today.
About 25 workers spent about four months on the wax work, 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 Tussauds where he is standing upright.
Under German law, the display of Nazi regalia is illegal. The wax Hitler is the latest in a gradual breaking down of taboos about him in Germany more than six decades after the end of World War II.
Hitler is already featured alongside US President George W Bush and former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein in the London museum's 'world leader' section.
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