The full wax ... Hitler's model at Madame Tussauds in Berlin. Photograph: Tobias Schwarz/Reuters
The suspense is finally over - "Hitler is back in Berlin" headlined the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, as the waxworks museum chain Madame Tussauds unveiled its eighth branch in the German capital yesterday and guaranteed maximum publicity with a controversial star guest.
"We would be upset if he becomes the focus of the exhibition," said Suzanne Keller, director of the exhibition which opens to the public next week on the leafy boulevard Unter den Linden.
But as she stood close to the waxy figure of the Nazi dictator, but not close enough that she could be photographed with him, it was clear her plea to journalists to not pay him too much attention would fall on deaf ears.
Why the fuss, many have asked. Hitler is a major character in German history. Excluding him from an exhibition of waxworks which is supposed to offer a sweeping look at important German figures as well as a sprinkling of other international celebrities people would like to meet in the flesh - or otherwise in wax - would be highly questionable.
Firstly, the proximity of his figure close to the spot where 63 years ago he committed suicide that has disturbed some critics. Lea Rosh, one of the instigators of the huge Holocaust memorial just a stone's throw from the museum, has voiced her disquiet, saying the waxworks are cashing in on the most disturbing chapter in German history.
Meanwhile, the Central Council of Jews in Germany have stated that the figurine should only be displayed with an adequate explanation of Hitler and his crimes.
The curators at Madame Tussauds have reacted by putting Hitler in his own dark corner of the exhibition. He sits at his desk in his bunker looking deeply concerned as bombs (sound effects included) rain above him on Berlin in the last days of his dictatorship.
Close by is Churchill. You can shake his hand and pat his balding pate. But Hitler? "He will be cordoned off and no one is allowed to pose next to him," Ms Keller insisted. Staff will be employed specifically to keep away the autograph hunters. Germans are supposed to get the message that this is a defeated, dishevelled man, not the fist-punching fighter he appears as on Marylebone Road. The public is now queuing up to take a look for themselves.
