Hitler: Scary wax dummy or radioactive monster?

While this isn't one of Jeff's features, only a news piece, it really stuck in my mind. Perhaps it was the surreal nature of the story, or the issues it brings up. How to make a museum about the Third Reich without it becoming a shrine to neo-Nazis? How far should protesters go to make their voices heard? Why didn't someone rip off the real Hitler's head?

The trippy photo is cool too, and fits perfectly with the odd subject matter of the story. If you scroll up so that only the top centimeter is showing, it looks like a nuclear explosion. If you scroll down so that only the bottom centimeter is showing, it looks like an infrared image of a naked woman lying on a bed. Or maybe that's just in my mind. My wife's out of town, you see, and I'm a bit lonely.

So long, Jeff. We'll miss your sense of humor and eye for weird detail. You were one of the good ones.

Last year I wrote about the ill-fated Adolf Hitler exhibit at Berlin's just-opened Madame Tussauds museum.

A man obviously unhappy with the museum's decision to have a wax likeness of the 20th Century's most evil leader waited patiently in line on opening day before rushing, tackling the wax Hitler and ripping off its head -- all the time shouting, "Never again!" Several security guards were also injured in the fracas.

So, how much will Germany fine you if you decapitate Hitler?

The man known in the local media here only as "Frank L" was in court today, where he was given a suspended sentence and fined 900 euros, or roughly $1,200.

Was he sorry? No. He told the court that he'd do it again.

As for the Hitler statue, it is back at Madame Tussauds, in a more secure location.

Filed under: Arts and Culture, History, Europe, Algeria, Germany, News