The effigy of the Nazi dictator was seated behind a desk at Madame Tussaud's, a popular tourist attraction on Berlin's well-known Unter den Linden boulevard.

The controversial display was protected by a glass wall and security staff, unlike the original one which was completely open to visitors.

Madame Tussaud's, a British company, defended its decision to persist with the display against widespread criticism from Germans, saying, "Hitler represents a decisive part of Berlin's history which we can't just pretend did not happen."

A beheading at the museum

A 41-year-old rest-home orderly wrenched the head off the figure on July 5, a few minutes after the waxworks opened for business in Germany.

The desk behind which Hitler sat was left unoccupied after the beheading while repairs to the figure were carried out.

Many Germans were upset that Hitler was included in a commercial amusement close to the Holocaust Memorial and other memory sites.

The Nazi dictator committed suicide in his bunker close by in 1945.

Respectful display?

Responding to warnings 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.

It is illegal in Germany to show Nazi symbols and art glorifying Hitler and the exhibit was cordoned off to stop visitors posing with him.

Camera surveillance and museum officials were meant to stop inappropriate behavior.

Signs nearby asked visitors to refrain from taking photos or posing with Hitler "out of respect for the millions of people who died during World War Two."