BERLIN: Berlin's new waxwork museum on
Thursday unveiled a figure of a glum-looking Adolf Hitler in a mock bunker
during the last days of his life, an exhibit that has been criticised as in bad
taste. (
Watch
)
The row over the figure
overshadowed the media preview of the new branch of Madame Tussauds which opens
its doors to the public on Saturday.
Critics say it is inappropriate
to display the Nazi dictator, who started World War II and ordered the
extermination of Europe's Jews, in a museum alongside celebrities, pop stars,
world statesmen and sporting heroes.
"Of course the figure will
arouse interest but we hope people will realise he is part of an exhibition with
a range of attractions," said Meike Schulze, head of Midway Attractions in
Germany which is responsible for Madame Tussauds here.
"It will be a
shame if he dominates everything." Her plea appeared to be falling on deaf ears.
About 200 reporters and cameramen all but ignored US President George W Bush,
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, plus the likes of Beethoven, Albert Einstein,
Madonna and Brad Pitt. Instead, they pushed and jostled to peer into a dark
corner where the unmistakable figure of Hitler is seated.
Dressed in
a grey suit, Hitler gazes downwards with a despondent stare, his arm
outstretched on a large wooden table with map of Europe on the wall of his
gloomy bunker.
"We wanted to show him like this, in the last days of
his life," said Schulze who defended the decision to put him on show, saying
market research had shown there was demand for his inclusion, as long his
portrayal was sensitive.
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 Tussauds
where he is standing upright.
It is illegal in Germany to show Nazi
symbols and art glorifying Hitler and the exhibit is cordoned off to stop
visitors posing with him.
Unobtrusive signs ask visitors to refrain
from taking photos or posing with Hitler "out of respect for the millions of
people who died during World War II".
Camera surveillance and museum
officials will stop inappropriate behaviour, said Schulze.
Institutions such as the foundation for Germany's central Holocaust
memorial site have condemned the idea of the exhibit as tasteless, saying it had
been included to generate business.
However, the wax figure is the
latest in a gradual breaking down of taboos about Hitler in Germany more than 60
after the end of the war and the holocaust in which some 6 million Jews were
killed.
The 2004 film
Downfall
provoked controversy as it portrayed the leader in a human light during
the last days of his life and last year a satire about Hitler by Swiss-born
Jewish director Dani Levy was released in Germany.