From correspondents in Berlin, Germany, 04:31 PM IST

A man tore the head off a wax statue of Adolf Hitler in Berlin Saturday, minutes after the new branch of the Madame Tussauds wax-work museum chain opened for the first time to the public.

German police said the man, 41, was detained.

The decision by London-based Madame Tussauds, part of the Merlin Entertainments company, to include Hitler in the 75-figure museum has roused fierce passions in the German capital.

Responding to suggestions that it might become a site of pilgrimage for neo-Nazis, Tussauds depicted Hitler as a broken man in his bunker just before his 1945 defeat and death.

The Saturday opening was extensively reported in the German media.

(Staff Writer, © IANS)