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By Kerstin Gehmlich
Mon Jun 2, 1:19 PM ET


BERLIN (Reuters) - 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."

UNDER CAMERA SURVEILLANCE

In the Madame Tussauds museum in London, a Hitler figure is on display in the same section as other world leaders from the past and present, including U.S. President George W. Bush and former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

Berlin Mayor Klaus Wowereit, whose waxworks image will also be part of the exhibition, has written a letter to the museum, asking for more information on how Hitler will be presented and urging organizers to treat the matter in a sensitive way.

Uwe Neumaerker from the foundation for Germany's central Holocaust memorial site, based just a few hundred meters away from the museum, said the Hitler figure was tasteless.

"This is all about producing a shock effect and attracting clients," he told Berliner Zeitung daily.

Apart from Hitler, the new museum will also feature waxworks of scientist Albert Einstein, Chancellor Angela Merkel and sports stars including former tennis champion Boris Becker.

Madame Tussauds spokeswoman Ruoss said visitors would not be able to pose with the Hitler figure, which would be sealed off and be under camera surveillance.

"We have considered this problem and have taken precautions," she said. It is illegal in Germany to display artwork glorifying Hitler.

In recent years, Germany has begun to treat Hitler with less caution.

The country's first mainstream film about Hitler, the 2004 movie "Downfall" sparked a heated debate because it portrayed the "Fuehrer" in more human terms, showing his mental and physical erosion during the final days of the war.

Last year, a taboo-breaking Hitler comedy by Swiss-born Jewish director Dani Levy was released in Germany.

(Reporting by Kerstin Gehmlich; editing by Ralph Boulton)

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I think Hitler derserves a place in a museum devoted to German history. I mean, after all, he WAS a major figure in 20th century.

My only problem I have is with the wax. Couldn't they use a more ... um ... ##### suitable substance ... like say ... HARDENED DOG ##### ?

QUOTE (Jerame @ Jun 4 2008, 07:10 PM)

The country's first mainstream film about Hitler, the 2004 movie "Downfall" sparked a heated debate because it portrayed the "Fuehrer" in more human terms, showing his mental and physical erosion during the final days of the war.

*blink* I think that's slightly harsh of critics to say, as everyone is human. As the Nurse says within Hippolytus by Euripides, "We are human, we do wrong by nature". ^.^
[/geekiness]
Sorry, been revising for my exam. ;P Moving on...
Of course I'm not saying, "Oh, Hitler's just human! So he had a bunch of Jews exterminated, etc. etc. - we make mistakes!" because that obviously isn't the case. =P But surely he was capable of the same emotions we feel at some point. *shrug*

More to the point, I can understand why Germany wouldn't completely OMG LOVE the idea. :3 But there will be a point where they'll just have to accept those kinds of things. By not allowing the wax figure to be shown, they would be reinforcing the fact that it's a horrible part of history that they'll never be able to get past. Something like that anyway. =P

lol, Germany seems to love ignoring its' past. Let them, everyone else will never forget.

Personally I don't see a problem with him being put into a museum. Just because he is being put there doesn't mean they're trying to praise his atrocities and say he was an entertainer. He's a pretty large figure-head from that time period, so there isn't much point trying to ignore his existence...

LOL No, it's nearly illigal to say anything vaguely similar to what Hitler said.

But it isn't tasteless. I know in Niagra Falls in Canada, there's a wax museum, and a wax statue of Charles Manson complete with the swastika on his forehead is there, along with a Hitler and a Stalin and an Atila the Hun.

So omfg big deal.

I can see why some people would be offended, but to cause offense isn't the intention. He is a part of history and will always be, he's glorified for his inhumane and insane evil... So I don't think putting him in wax will make people automatically idolize him.

Well germans are kinda stingy about it's past in both World Wars, and I belive they would be happier if it just where forgotten completley!

One personal experience was when I made a busstrip to Italy and passed through Germany, one man in the company was chatting with a german guy and suddenly the german man starting shouting and yelling and almost hit him!
apperantly he had mentioned something about how that germany lost two WorldWars, and that was it!

one other was a swedish comedian (a lousy one if you ask me) dressed up in a german uniform and acted like a blind officer and asked for directions... in germany! after awhile the situation heated up and and some men started following him, the comedian fled in a car before it went out of hand.
I don't think it became any show of it!

so the seems to be stingy about their past and then I can understand they don't wan't a statue of Hitler somewhere!

"To forget history is to repeat it"

That's true.

May the world never forget the massive tragedy of The Holocaust. This ##### was no laughing matter -- take a look at 'Schindler's List' and be repulsed.


And believe me, it wasn't just Hitler that was insanely evil either. His plans for The Final Solution would not have been carried out if not for an entire regime that thought more with thier macho cocks than with thier brains.