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Man Beheads Wax Hitler

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.

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.

This Week in Weird Holocaust/Nazi Imagery…

Brazilian Jews are angry at the Viradouro samba school for its plans for a Holocaust- themed Carnival float, complete with sculpted piles of dead bodies. The school defended its float.

Reuters reports:

“The float is extremely respectful, it’s a warning, it’s something shocking that we don’t want to happen ever again,” said Paulo Barros, Viradouro’s artistic director.

Viradouro’s parade theme is “Shockers” and it includes floats depicting the shock of birth, the shock of horror and the shock of cold.

Barrossaid the Holocaust float would be the only one without dancers on top.

“If we had people dancing on top of dead bodies that would indeed be disrespectful,” he told Reuters.

Meanwhile, across the ocean, Germany’s Green Party is using a picture of a cat that looks like Hitler to skewer extreme rightists. A poster featuring the cat Hitler says “you can’t always recognize Nazis at first glance.” Some were offended by the poster.

Ha’aretz reports:

The use of the cat was bemoaned by the Web site www.catsthatlooklikehitler.com on the grounds that the Green Party used photo manipulation to produce their “Adolf Kitler” rather of one of the site’s many authentic “Kitler” cats.

UPDATE: JTA is reporting that Rio Carnival parade organizers have banned the Holocaust-themed float.

Hitler’s Secret Record Collection: Did the Fuhrer Dig Jewish Musicians?

Say what you will about Hitler, he apparently had better taste in music than previously assumed. ABC News reports: “A new chapter about Hitler’s taste in classical music has now been opened on reports that suggest the German dictator and Holocaust mastermind may have actually had an ear for the works of Jewish and Russian musicians.”

(Hat tip: Raphael Mostel)