Berlin Features Adolf Hitler

BERLIN - A branch of Madame Tussauds' Museum will open Saturday in Berlin. The museum has included a controversial wax figure of Adolf Hitler hunched over a desk in a dimly lit bunker just before he committed suicide at the end of World War II. Nathalie Ruoss, museum spokesperson said, "We polled people in Berlin about how they want to have the exhibition, and the majority wanted historical and cultural background to the figures."

Adolf Hitler sits beneath a map of Europe on the wall, monitoring the advance of allied troops from the east and west. Deep lines upon his wax forehead mark his desperate realization of his inevitable fall.

There is also a reproduction of the Berlin wall, a waxy John F. Kennedy stands next to a video showing his famous "I am a Berliner" speech. Singer Robbie Williams is seen on a sofa during a glamorous party with other wax guests like Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie and Nicole Kidman.

Visitors can touch and photograph the wax figures, except for Hitler. Two security guards and video cameras make sure nobody breaks the rule.

In a statement, the museum said Hitler's rule "stands for an important, though also appalling, turning point in the development of modern Europe" and stressed that Madame Tussauds is "nonpolitical." There is another wax Hitler stands in the original Madame Tussauds in London.