Hitler Beheaded

[Lolly]

A waxwork of Hitler has been beheaded at Madam Tussauds in Berlin:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7491280.stm

But the exhibition's organiser said it could hardly depict German history without portraying Hitler.

I kind of agree with this, but I think there are more sensitive ways of handling it, than a lifesize waxwork of him.

[jaysay]

Originally Posted by Lolly

A waxwork of Hitler has been beheaded at Madam Tussauds in Berlin:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7491280.stm



I kind of agree with this, but I think there are more sensitive ways of handling it, than a lifesize waxwork of him.

Did they ever expect anything different, lots of Germans are still in deniel of what happened all those years ago, its just a pity that the allies didn't get hold of the real thing before he took the cowards way out and topped himself

[shakermaker]

Originally Posted by Lolly

A waxwork of Hitler has been beheaded at Madam Tussauds in Berlin:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7491280.stm



I kind of agree with this, but I think there are more sensitive ways of handling it, than a lifesize waxwork of him.

Err...in a waxwork museum?!

Hitler was a gigantic figure of modern history. Now I don't know about you but I have always thought that the waxwork models in waxwork museums represent figures from history. Having Hitler's waxwork in a museum hardly means the museum is rallying up neo-Nazis.

As Stephen Kramer remarks in the BBC article you provided Lolly, "Erasing him from history is not going to bring the perished ones back".

[WillowTheWhisp]

How do you display WWII history in a country where it is verboten to display the swastika?

We've got models of Crippen and Jack the Ripper in our waxworks in the UK but that doesn't mean we support murder.

[AccyAlec]

Originally Posted by Lolly

A waxwork of Hitler has been beheaded at Madam Tussauds in Berlin:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7491280.stm



I kind of agree with this, but I think there are more sensitive ways of handling it, than a lifesize waxwork of him.

Its the poor person/s who made the wax hitler i feel sorry for.. But who would want to make a wax version of hitler.. great for burning!!

[onlyme]

Originally Posted by jaysay

Did they ever expect anything different, lots of Germans are still in deniel of what happened all those years ago, its just a pity that the allies didn't get hold of the real thing before he took the cowards way out and topped himself

I have had a completely different experience, I've found a lot of germans are well aware of the mistakes that were made and have a deep guilt about the history surrounding the country.

School trips include visiting old concentration camps, which, even though I went approx 20 years ago, i still hold vivid memories of the place, all of which are unpleasant

From y experience, the Germans are not pretending it didnt happen, more the opposite and having things around the force people to remember the atrocities that occurred

[WillowTheWhisp]

That's my experience too.

[Loz]

Like it or not Hitler is a major figure in history so it seems right that there is a waxwork of him.
Seems a bit daft beheading the dummy,plus it will cost to get it repaired.

[garinda]

Apparently it's illegal to display a swastika in Germany, but it's alright to have a waxwork of Hitler, just so long as he isn't wearing a swastika?

Sounds highly illogical to me, but then again that's Germans for you. One minute they're very polite, bowing, clicking their heels, shaking your hand, the next time you see then they're bare arsed naked in the middle of a crowded city park. Weird.



'Displaying the swastika and other Nazi symbols is illegal in Germany.'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4178643.stm

[onlyme]

Originally Posted by garinda

Apparently it's illegal to display a swastika in Germany, but it's alright to have a waxwork of Hitler, just so long as he isn't wearing a swastika?

Sounds highly illogical to me, but then again that's Germans for you. One minute they're very polite, bowing, clicking their heels, shaking your hand, the next time you see then they're bare arsed naked in the middle of a crowded city park. Weird.



'Displaying the swastika and other Nazi symbols is illegal in Germany.'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4178643.stm

Is that why rossendales twinned with a german town?

[garinda]

Originally Posted by onlyme

Is that why rossendales twinned with a german town?

Lol, why?

Do they click their heels to end a conversation, or strip off outside Winfield's?

Personally I like the Germans I've met. I spent a summer working for a magazine in Hamburg, and had a great time, even if as a nation they're quite contrary.

[blazey]

I have a few German friends at uni and they're always making jokes about being 'efficient'. I find them highly amusing.

I love the Germans, and I don't see how a wax work of hitler is insensitive, but maybe I'm missing something... I can understand the banning of the swastika because it's something Germans have to be ashamed of a whole, however Hitler wasn't anyones fault really. That's the way I see it anyway.



Also, out of interest Willow, what does the wax work of Jack the Ripper look like if nobody knows exactly who Jack the Ripper was? A black 3D silhouette perhaps?

[jambutty]

Hitler, like the swastika, is a symbol of Nazism. So as it is against the law in Germany to display Nazi symbols, the museum found itself in a catch 22 situation.

However a museum is a place where history is recorded and displayed and to not display an image of Hitler and the swastika could be seen as trying to alter history.

What we don’t know is if the law gave museums exemptions from that law because of the nature of what a museum does.

As for the act itself, it is just simple vandalism and the miscreant should be punished according to their law.

As for Germans having to be ashamed of what their ancestors did? If that is the case then we should also be ashamed of some of the horrendous actions of our ancestors.

It was the British who invented concentration camps in South Africa during the Boer War where hundreds of old men, women and children were interned in conditions that would have brought recriminations in today’s world – and many died there too.
It was the British who colonised Australia and pushed the indigenous people aside.
It was the British who raped and pillaged India.
It was the British who sent young orphaned children to Australia for what turned out to be a very, very hard and strict life often accompanied by physical and sexual abuse.
It was the British who condoned the Boers introducing apartheid in South Africa.
It was the British who pushed aside the Palestinians to create the state of Israel.
It was the British who got rich on slavery.

Shouldn’t we British also be ashamed of our past?

[cashman]

Personally i think the museum were right to have a wax image of hitler, also i think that beheading him is hilarious, have met many krauts having visited the country, also when i lived abroad, in the main i can't bloody stand the arrogant gits, but some i met were very nice n helpful. so good n bad everywhere, just more bad wi them is my thoughts.

[Tin Monkey]

The swastika (and its variants) actually originates in the Hindu religion and was hijacked by the Nazis. Just go to any Hindu Temple (the nearest is in Preston I think, and it's a beautiful building) and you'll see numerous swastikas.