This week in the world…
A 41 year old man from Berlin ripped the head off of Adolf Hitler. The wax version, of course. It all went down in Berlin at the opening of the new branch of Madame Tussauds.
It was an act of protest and quite frankly I fail to see why anyone should be surprised. Apart from the fact that he shoved two museum workers out of the way and damaged museum property, I myself am unsure as to how I feel about a wax depiction of he whose very name represents hate and death.
While I understand that Hitler was, is, and always will be a monumental part of world history (good or bad), on some level I know it will make me feel sleazy to see a shinier-than-normal Hitler with glowering eyes staring back at me if I ever make my way to Madame Tussauds in Berlin.
Perhaps within me there’s a subconscious belief that people like Hitler and Stalin have no place outside of history textbooks. Maybe my problem is that I think we should save the wax for the Mother Teresa’s and Nelson Mandela’s of the world. Maybe all Hitler wanted was to be remembered so widely when he was gone. Somehow, I worry that the borderline creepy unhumaness of wax Hitler will serve to humanize him more than he deserves.
If it wasn’t for the shoving and the damage to property, I don’t know, I might even agree with the man who did it. Who knows, perhaps upon arrival to Madame Tussauds I would get the urge to decapitate Hitler myself. However, the difference between me and this 41 year old man from Berlin is that at that point I’m sure my superego would slap my id in the face and I would just walk to the next exhibit.
