An unemployed man was fined 900 euros, or $1,227, for knocking the head off a waxwork figure of Adolf Hitler at Madame Tussaud's museum in Berlin.

The man, 42, an ex-policeman, said the display of the Nazi leader that was only some 500 meters from Berlin's Holocaust memorial was inappropriate, according to a Reuters story.

The man did something that many people would probably like to do, but haven't. Ripping off Hitler's head, even if only a wax dummy, would give a lot of people satisfaction. (The wax Hitler pictured here is in the San Francisco wax museum).

The waxwork of a glum-looking Hitler stirred debate in Germany before it went on display, with critics calling it tasteless. The museum argued that Hitler stood for a significant part of German history and that he was a legitimate part of the exhibition.

It is illegal in Germany to show Nazi symbols and art glorifying Hitler.

The restored figure was returned to the museum and is now behind a glass wall. Now the next vandal will have to break some glass to get to Hitler.