Hitler Gets Decapitated

Of course, since the Fuehrer has been dead over 63 years, we aren't speaking of the actual head of Hitler being ripped off. Still, this is as close as one can get to the real thing. The eerily life-like wax sculpture, which premiered at Madame Tussauds in Berlin earlier this week, was decapitated by an infuriated spectator only minutes after the exhibit opened.

In Germany, it is illegal to glorify Hitler in artwork or films. The wax figure showed a weary looking Hitler at a desk, not exactly what most people would consider a glorification. Still, it is understandable that emotions would be high during the initial showing of such an exhibit.

Denying Hitler any sort of acknowledgement could have negative repercussions though. If he is spoken of only as a purely evil, viscious, and outrageous figure, over time he will lose touch with the realities of the younger generations who were not affected as closely by the atrocities of World War II. At the end of 2007, only 2.6 million WWII veterans were still alive. It is estimated that 1,147 WWII veterans die everyday, so the number of people who actually served will be but a memory for our children's children, if not our children themselves.

To deny the visage of Hitler is almost an asinine issue, as it hasn't been proven to rally neo-Nazis or any other weird, pro-Hitler groups. Nor has it been proven to necessarily have any positive effects on society. The seriousness of the horrors he caused and the fury his image and ideas still generate today are worth examining though. Remember that Hitler was elected into office!

We must acknowledge our past, even if we do not agree with or condone what our ancestors did. We will learn from their failures, and we will build upon their triumphs.

Still, I have to say kudos to the guy who ripped off wax Hitler's head. He allowed his rage to boil over and consume him, and he destroyed a piece of labor-intensive work that took 25 people four months to complete. That had to be satisfying. He was jailed for the act though, so he's got some time to contemplate whether or not it was worth it. That's one of the joys of free society: back in WWII Germany he surely would have been tortured and killed for dismembering the likeness of Hitler; today he gets some accomodations and food on the government's tab! That is just the icing on anti-dictatorship cake...

Sources:

ManRips Head From Hitler Wax Figure, http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080705/od_nm/hitler_head_dc
Death of Adolf Hitler, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Adolf_Hitler
World War II Veterans statistics, http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_World_War_2_veterans_were_alive_on_November_30_2004
How Do We Know 1,100 World War II Veterans Die Every Day?, http://www.slate.com/id/1007759/