BERLIN (Reuters) - A waxworks museum in Berlin that featured a life-size figure of Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler has proved to be so controversial it is to be shut down.
In a reminder of how sensitive an issue Germany's Nazi past remains almost 60 years after the end of World War II, the German bank which owns the building housing the "Galerie Art'el" and its effigy of Hitler has asked the museum to leave.
"I had to get rid of Hitler," said museum director Inna Vollstaedt on Friday. "My landlords have canceled my lease and told me to close from today. I'm very disappointed."
Vollstaedt said the bank was worried about being associated with the Nazis and wanted her out as soon as possible.
"They were tired of being continually hassled on the phone. Apparently people have been out on the streets protesting about the figure in Israel," said the Russian-born Vollstaedt.
The Wuerttembergische Hypothekenbank, who Vollstaedt said owns the real estate firm that the building belongs to, was not immediately available for comment.
The wax Hitler shared a room with his wartime adversaries the Soviet Union's Joseph Stalin, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill overlooking Checkpoint Charlie, the former Cold War border crossing between East and West Berlin.
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In a reminder of how sensitive an issue Germany's Nazi past remains almost 60 years after the end of World War II, the German bank which owns the building housing the "Galerie Art'el" and its effigy of Hitler has asked the museum to leave.
"I had to get rid of Hitler," said museum director Inna Vollstaedt on Friday. "My landlords have canceled my lease and told me to close from today. I'm very disappointed."
Vollstaedt said the bank was worried about being associated with the Nazis and wanted her out as soon as possible.
"They were tired of being continually hassled on the phone. Apparently people have been out on the streets protesting about the figure in Israel," said the Russian-born Vollstaedt.
The Wuerttembergische Hypothekenbank, who Vollstaedt said owns the real estate firm that the building belongs to, was not immediately available for comment.
The wax Hitler shared a room with his wartime adversaries the Soviet Union's Joseph Stalin, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill overlooking Checkpoint Charlie, the former Cold War border crossing between East and West Berlin.
More for Yahoo News