Google Maps mistakenly renames Berlin square after Hitler

USPA News - Internet search giant Google apologized on Friday after a user edit on its mapping service was mistakenly approved to rename a major square in the German capital of Berlin to "Adolf Hitler Platz," the name it was given after the Nazi Party leader became chancellor. The name of Theodor-Heuss-Platz was changed to Adolf-Hitler-Platz on late Thursday evening when a user edit on Google Map Maker was mistakenly approved.

The name was visible for several hours, prompting outrage on social networking websites and in German media, before the mistake was corrected. "To make our maps as accurate and user-friendly as possible, all user edits in Mapmaker are reviewed either by the community of mapping volunteers or Google moderators," said Lena Wagner, a spokeswoman for Google Germany. "In this particular case the change in the street name was mistakenly approved, and we fixed it as soon as we were made aware. We apologize for any offence caused." The square is located west of Berlin`s inner city and was named Reichskanzlerplatz (Chancellor`s Square) after its construction began in 1904, but it was named after Hitler less than three months after he became chancellor in January 1933. The square regained its initial name in the summer of 1947 until it was named after German President Theodor Heuss in December 1963. Adolf-Hitler-Platz was supposed to play a prominent role in Hitler`s planned overhaul of Berlin into a "global capital" named "Germania."