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The man who tore the head off the Adolf Hitler wax figure at Berlin's new Madame Tussauds on Saturday said he did so to protest war and fascism – and to win a bet.

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“Politically, I lean to the left, but I'm not an extremist,” Frank L., 41, told the Bild am Sonntag newspaper after being released from police custody on Saturday evening, hours after he disrupted the opening of Madame Tussauds Berlin by ripping the head off its new Hitler waxwork.

Just three minutes after the museum opened its doors, Frank L., who had been second in line, ran up to the wax figure seated behind a desk, screaming “No more war!”

“He threw himself over the desk and grabbed the wax figure, and started pulling at its head,” eye witness Andreas Fisch, 52, told the paper. “Then there was a scuffle with security personnel.”

Frank L. succeeded in his goal of beheading the wax Hitler – a bet which he'd agreed to a day prior to the museum's opening.

His girlfriend, Yvonne B., 30, said she was proud of what he'd done.

“He'd been in a foul mood for days because of the Hitler figure,” she told the paper. “Normally, he's a peaceful, helpful, loving person.”

Frank L. later told the paper that he'd been particularly incensed that the Hitler waxwork was located so close to Berlin's Jewish Museum. He added that he was sorry a security guard had been injured in the scuffle, as he hadn't intended to hurt anyone.

The Hitler waxwork was promptly moved from the scene, leaving visitors to stare at a vacant desk in a setting meant to portray the dictator's bunker in the last days of the war as the Red Army closed in on Berlin.

Madame Tussauds spokeswoman Natalie Ruoss said that a decision will be made on Monday about whether or not to put the figure back on display. She said it would depend on the extent of the damage to the figure, which reportedly cost 200,000 euros ($314,000) to make.

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