A decapitation at Berlin Tussauds

A visitor decapitated a wax figure of Adolf Hitler just minutes after the Berlin branch of Madame Tussauds opened its doors for the first time Saturday.

The 41-year-old Berlin man, the second visitor on the opening day of the museum, jumped over a rope that was meant to prevent viewers from getting close to the sculpture and ripped the head off the likeness of the Nazi leader, police spokesman Bernhard Schodrowski said. A museum employee was slightly injured in the incident

Police arrested the man, who apparently was making a protest, on suspicion of causing bodily injury and damage to property.

The museum remained open, but the sculpture was removed.

Controversy had erupted over whether to exhibit the Hitler sculpture at the museum, only 200 yards from the Brandenburg Gate in the center of historic Berlin.

Mayor Klaus Wowereit had urged museum operators to carefully consider whether to include the dictator’s likeness and, if they did, to be careful how they presented it. Stephan Kramer, head of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, had said that if the exhibit was done in the proper manner, it could provide an opportunity to demystify a man responsible for the death of 6 million Jews.

Museum spokeswoman Natalie Ruoss said, “It was our objective to show Hitler not in a glorifying way.” In the exhibit, Hitler was shown in a scene of late 1944 in a bunker, sitting at a desk under a map of Europe. He wore a gray uniform and had the expression of a broken man.

In contrast with other exhibits, visitors were not to be allowed to touch or photograph Hitler’s figure, to avoid the possibility of someone posing with the image for a photo, Ruoss said.

A visitor who left after the incident said, “This will happen again and again.”

Ruoss told Berlin’s Inforadio station that it was not yet clear whether the Hitler figure would be displayed again.

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christian.retzlaff@latimes.com