BERLIN, Germany (CNN) -- A man raced into Berlin's Madame Tussauds wax museum Saturday and ripped the head off a waxwork of Adolf Hitler, police said.


A wax likeness of Adolf Hitler sits in Berlin's Madame Tussaud's wax museum before Saturday's attack.

Police said the 41-year-old entered the exhibit shortly after the museum doors opened and "made for the Hitler figure," scuffling with a guard assigned to protect it and the manager before tearing the head off the life-size statue.

The man was arrested and is now in custody, Berlin police spokeswoman Uwe Kozelnik said. He told officers he wanted to protest the figure being included in the museum.

Museum official Nathalie Ruoss said organizers would decide Monday what to do about the figure.

Saturday was the opening day of the Berlin branch of the famous Madame Tussauds wax museum.

The presence of the waxwork, which depicted the Nazi dictator sitting at his desk in his bunker shortly before he committed suicide in 1945, in the new museum led to criticism in German media over recent weeks. But the museum's defenders argued Hitler's role in German history must not be ignored.