Reuters reports:

A man tore the head from a controversial waxwork figure of Adolf Hitler on the opening day of Berlin’s Madame Tussauds museum Saturday, police said.

Just minutes after the museum opened, the 41-year-old German man pushed aside two security men guarding the figure before ripping off the head in protest at the exhibit, a police spokesman said. The police were alerted and arrested the man.

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The waxwork figure of a glum-looking Adolf Hitler in a mock bunker during the last days of his life was criticized as being in bad taste. A media preview of the new branch of Madame Tussauds Thursday was overshadowed by a row over the exhibit.

Critics said it was inappropriate to display the Nazi dictator, who started World War Two and ordered the extermination of Europe’s Jews, in a museum alongside celebrities, pop stars, world statesmen and sporting heroes.

Let’s just hope that this fellow doesn’t cross paths with any of these cats.

UPDATE: The Guardian reports that the wax fuehrer’s foes are celebrating the decapitation, while the German newspaper Bild is reporting that the wax Hitler — let’s call him “Witler” — has been flown to London, of all places, for repairs. (It would have been fitting if the RAF had intercepted his flight.) Madame Tussauds, for its part, is vowing to return “Witler” to its Berlin museum as soon as he is re-headed. Meanwhile, the museum seems to be facing possible legal action from another, much less genocidal former German leader: ex-chancellor Helmut Kohl, who reportedly said that he didn’t give permission for his wax likeness to be displayed.

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