The decapitation of Adolf Hitler by a left-wing activist drew widespread applause from German critics and politicians yesterday who felt that his wax dummy should never have been put on display in Berlin.

One commentator hailed it as “a successful assassination attempt – sadly 75 years overdue”.

The assault occurred only minutes after the Berlin affiliate of Madame Tussauds opened its doors to the public at the weekend. The second visitor in the building, a 41-year-old former policeman known only as Frank L., headed straight for the darkened corner where a despairing Führer was shown hunched over his desk in his Berlin bunker.

Mr L. jumped the rope cordon, slid over the desk and grabbed Hitler in a rugby tackle.

Times Archive, 1945: Hitler, The Times obituary

Few men in the whole of history and none in modern times have been the cause of suffering on so large a scale as Hitler

• Archive Topic: Hitler's suicide

Related Links

• Hitler finally returns to Berlin

• From national bogeyman to ruinous failure

• That Adolf Hitler, he's having a laugh

Andreas Fisch, 52, who watched the attack, said: “Then he twisted his head. The security men closed in to pull him apart from Hitler. When they fell to the floor, Frank L. shouted: ‘Never again war!’ ” Prosecutors are looking into pursuing Mr L. on charges of assault – one of the security guards was slightly injured – and wilful damage to property. The Hitler dummy cost €200,000 (£160,000). The body is made from fibreglass, the head from beeswax. Decapitation is thus relatively easy if the head is twisted.

Mr L. was unrepentant. “I really enjoyed the fact that Willy Brandt was watching,” he said.

Brandt, a former West German Chancellor, was in the antiNazi resistance and became a hero for the Left; his dummy stands in the same room as that of Hitler.

Mr L. resigned from the Berlin police after being assigned to quell a May Day demonstration of left-wing anarchists – “I realised I belonged on the other side,” he said. Since then he has been active in the punk and squatter scene; since February he has been a care worker. His girlfriend Yvonne said: “I’m really proud of him. I’ve been furious about Hitler for days.”

She was far from being the only person to approve. The dummy has been highly controversial because the exhibition at Madame Tussauds was plainly meant to entertain rather than inform, and Hitler was being used as a commercial magnet.

Opponents said that the dummy would become a source of pilgrimage for neo-Nazis – at least, those who were able to afford the €18 (£14.25) entrance fee.

The museum, which is close to the Brandenburg Gate, had imposed a “no touching, no kissing” rule for the dummy, and posing for photographs with him was banned. Security guards were briefed to guard Hitler from open displays of affection.

Henryk Broder, a columnist for Der Spiegel, exclaimed: “At last, a successful attack on Hitler!” His one quibble was the nature of Frank L.’s political outburst – no more war. Mr Broder said: “If the Allies hadn’t waged war on Hitler, we might still be under the yoke of his heirs. He should have shouted ‘Never again dictatorship!’ But that’s not a very fashionable rallying call on the Left.”

Politicians were also shedding no tears for the wax Führer. The Social Democrat politician Frank Zimmermann said: “It’s more of an artwork to rip off Hitler’s head than to put him on display.”

Natalie Russ, spokeswoman for Madame Tussauds, said that a decision would be taken today on whether Hitler would return. She added: “It depends on the scale of the damage.” For the time being his body is being kept in a locked side room. The key decision will be whether to surround the waxwork of the Führer with a reinforced glass wall. The Hitler dummy in the London branch of Madame Tussauds has been exhibited since 1933. Until 2002, it was the dummy that attracted the most protest: visitors spat at it and tried to deface it.

After 2002, the model of Osama bin Laden became the most controversial figure.

Buy the book Mein Kampf, by Adolf Hitler.

Buy the book Hitler by Ian Kershaw

Times Recommends

• Violent video games won’t corrupt
• Pope Benedict XVI: Alma Mater
• Chávez should know what’s good for him