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Court fines man for beheading wax Hitler

- A German court fined an unemployed man 900 euros ($1,227) Tuesday for knocking the head off a waxwork figure of Adolf Hitler in a Berlin museum.

Minutes after the Madame Tussauds museum opened in the German capital in July, the 42-year-old pushed past security staff ripped off its head. The man, an ex-policeman, said he found it inappropriate to display an exhibit showing the Nazi leader only some 500 meters from Berlin's Holocaust memorial.

The waxwork of a glum-looking Hitler in a mock bunker stirred debate in Germany even before it went on display. Critics argued it was tasteless to display a replica of the man who unleashed World War Two and ordered the extermination of Europe's Jews.

Madame Tussauds said the museum avoided politics, arguing Hitler stood for a significant part of German history and his waxwork therefore had a legitimate part in the exhibition.

The restored figure was returned to the museum in September and is now displayed behind a glass wall.... Read full article »
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  • kahless
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    +5 raves kahless May 13, 2009 15:58:07
    those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it....show this monsters face to the world, and tell the story of what he and his murderers did......dont ever forget it.
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  • Maplewing
    Reply
    [-] Maplewing June 02, 2009 23:03:23
    It was part of the museum. True, Hitler was a jerk. But still, it was someone else's property and beheading it counts as vandalism.
  • tyty
    Reply
    [-] tyty May 17, 2009 04:18:11
    hahaha, i think that's funny. if only it was the real hitler who was beheaded...
  • Yessica
    Reply
    [-] Yessica May 17, 2009 02:51:44
    wow
  • Fox
    Reply
    [-] Fox May 15, 2009 05:09:35
    That man who knocked the head off of adolf hitler should be honored
  • Andrea
    Reply
    +1 raves [-] Andrea May 14, 2009 16:36:02
    While Hitler was a murdering SOB, to ignore the fact that he lived and the atrocities he committed just shows people that you can pretend the past never happened. You can't. The past was real and needs to be remembered, not only so that mistakes can be learned from, but so that the victims and survivors are remembered and honored. To remove all trace of Hitler is saying that the Jewish people's suffereing meant nothing and was unimportant.
  • ladypuppylove
    Reply
    [-] ladypuppylove May 14, 2009 14:06:29
    Maybe this is the way he felt at the time he could have got upset about his anscestors but to punish him is so wrong
  • Dark N Lovely
    Reply
    [-] Dark N Lovely May 14, 2009 12:12:53
    Hooray for him! Why does this man deserve a wax figure anyway, he was an asswhole!
  • ♥~Rainbow~♥
    Reply
    +1 raves [-] ♥~Rainbow~♥ May 14, 2009 08:37:35 (edited)
    maybe cutting of his harbls would have been more effective...... just a thought!
  • The Original 1
    Reply
    +1 raves [-] The Original 1 May 14, 2009 08:04:42
    I think it is iroinic that knowing how much of a hated symbol that that wax figure would be, that there was not enough of an effort to secure it from people. I would think a child would have done what that man did though. I agree that history repeats itself, but I do agree that it is tasteless to commemorate someone who was so brutal and negative by giving them a wax figure...for display or not. There are movies and books and all sorts of literature out there that educate people enough about what that sick man did. Honestly, the man who beheaded the wax figure should not have paid a fine, but he should have been banned from the display just because that's what stores do to people they don't want returning. A 1,000+ fine is way brutal, especially to an unemployed man. They should put the head back on and put a turtleneck or scarf around him. Sheesh.
  • Dark N Lovely
    Reply
    [-] Dark N ... The Ori... May 14, 2009 12:13:51
    nicely put!!!!!!
  • chaoskitty123
    Reply
    [-] chaoskitty123 May 14, 2009 06:20:27
    Should we forget the monster who caused the holocaust and the memorial? A thousand years from now if we were to remove all images of Hitler, would not our descendents walk by the memorial in the same way we walk past other memorials where we see something to honor the dead but it's just an abstract thought while we eat ice cream with our children? Show the monster, tell the story and let them scratch their heads figuring out how this man dared to think he was part of the master race let alone be it's leader.

    Let's not forget the human face of these monsters so that when new monsters emerge kissing our children and welcoming Santa Claus that we are too blind to see them for what they are. History does indeed repeat itself...but only because we become too blind to see it for what it is. Why do you think we are in a global depression? We've been down that road before as well and yet, here we are again and for the same reasons.
  • ragnar_rahl
    Reply
    +1 raves [-] ragnar_rahl May 14, 2009 06:19:11
    Who owned the museum?
  • BoyOfTheEnders
    Reply
    +3 raves [-] BoyOfTheEnders May 14, 2009 05:27:59
    stupid man...
    stupid Hitler...
    stupid stupid hitler
  • ♥~Rainbow~♥
    Reply
    +2 raves [-] ♥~Rainb... BoyOfTh... May 14, 2009 08:38:58
    yeah..... stoopid sociopath!
  • Fae
    Reply
    +1 raves [-] Fae May 14, 2009 02:48:19
    Actually, it was "very appropriate" to show Hitler... after all, one needs to associate a face with the name too.
  • Adam
    Reply
    +2 raves [-] Adam May 14, 2009 02:17:01
    Hitler existed. He shaped history to quite an extent. It makes sense he was on display.
  • ♥~Rainbow~♥
    Reply
    +1 raves [-] ♥~Rainb... Adam May 14, 2009 08:40:54
    he shaped history ...not just in his time ... but also in present time,,, his ideolgy and methodology still live today
  • Alicia
    Reply
    [-] Alicia May 14, 2009 02:02:54
    I don't know if the same title was on this figure but in Madame Tussauds in London there is a card that says "The Most Hated Man In The World" beside Hitler's figure. It in no way takes away from the respect of the Holocaust memorial.
  • govout
    Reply
    +1 raves [-] govout May 14, 2009 02:00:22
    He, he, good for the decapitator.
  • johndoe
    Reply
    +2 raves [-] johndoe May 14, 2009 01:33:04
    Yes he was a monster, and he was responsible for countless deaths. but, we can't deny that piece of world history simply because we find it distasteful.

    It will be just as wrong when someone takes a sledgehammer to george bush in Disney's hall of presidents, albeit hilarious.
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