Hitler banner in Thailand removed after protests

               

A Thai waxworks museum has covered up a giant billboard of Adolf Hitler giving a Nazi salute and apologized after the Israeli and German embassies in Bangkok lodged complaints. The billboard was one of four featuring pictures of famous dead people set up on a highway to the beach city of Pattaya to promote Tussaud's Waxworks opening there next month.

Alongside the picture of the Nazi dictator, erected more than two weeks ago, a large slogan in Thai said: "Hitler is not dead." Museum director Somporn Naksuetrong said the billboard had been covered up after "a lot" of complaints had come in. "We didn't choose Hitler with the intention of praising him, but because he is well-known," Somporn told the news agency AFP. Israeli Ambassador Itzhak Shoham said the billboard was "not only offensive to the Holocaust survivors but also to anyone who deplores racist behavior. How this could happen is beyond my understanding and comprehension," he was quoted as saying by the ‘Bangkok Post’.