SUMMARY
This is AI generated summarization, which may have errors. For context, always refer to the full article.
BERLIN, Germany – Google apologized Friday, January 10, after a major square in Berlin regained its Nazi-era name “Adolf Hitler” on its popular online Maps page for a few hours.
A spokeswoman for the German unit of the US Internet giant, Lena Wagner, told Agence France-Presse that it was not immediately clear how a street at Theodor-Heuss-Platz in the west of the German capital had again become “Adolf-Hitler-Platz” – the name it bore from 1933 to 1947 – late Thursday, January 9.
“We were made aware of a false and inappropriate street name on Google Maps and corrected it immediately,” she said.
“We apologize for this mistake.”
The Nazi leader’s name was no longer visible on Google Maps on Friday, and a search for Adolf-Hitler-Platz again redirects users to Theodor-Heuss-Platz.
The square at the center of a major roundabout was renamed after Hitler in 1933 and was to have played a prominent role in the planned “Germania” overhaul of the city into a “global capital” planned under the Third Reich.
Its name was changed after the war and finally given the name of Heuss, Germany’s first post-war president, in 1963.
The error sparked outrage in social networks and German media, with the top-selling daily Bild demanding, “How could this happen?”
Reports said Google Maps for Germany had been hacked in the past, with Cologne’s famous cathedral once made to disappear entirely. – Rappler.com
Add a comment
How does this make you feel?
There are no comments yet. Add your comment to start the conversation.