Bangkok, Oct 18 (DPA) A billboard of Adolf Hitler used to advertise a new wax museum at a beach resort was covered up after strong criticism from the Israeli and German ambassadors to Thailand, media reports said Sunday.
Louis Tussaud’s Waxworks, which plans to open an outlet next month in Pattaya, 100 km south-east of Bangkok, apologised for the billboard that depicted the German dictator giving a Nazi salute, with the legend “Hitler is Not Yet Dead” written in Thai.
The museum was considering offering discounted entry in atonement, the Bangkok Post said.
The billboard, erected two weeks ago on the highway from Bangkok to Pattaya, had provoked more than 100 complaints including a letter of protest from Israeli Ambassador Itzhak Shoham.
“The image of Adolf Hitler and the writing underneath are not only offensive to the Holocaust survivors but also to anyone who deplores racist behaviour,” Shoham’s letter to the museum said. “It is totally unacceptable to have such a monster like Adolf Hitler on display.”
German Ambassador Hanns Schumacher was also outraged, according to the newspaper.
“This kind of utterly tasteless advertisement would hurt the feelings of many people,” he said during a visit to the resort, to attend the opening of child protection centre.
“The German embassy would appreciate if the poster could be removed as quickly as possible.”
Somporn Naksuetrong, the Thai managing director of Louis Tussaud’s Waxworks, said they would keep the advertising concept but use other deceased people for their billboards in the future.
