An actor dressed as Hitler on the streets of Germany was begged to bring back labour camps, kissed and made to feel like 'a pop star' - casting an uncomfortable light on growing support for right-wing extremism in the country.

Oliver Masucci plays the Nazi leader in 'He's Back' ('Er ist wieder da'), a biting social satire by author Timur Vermes which was released in German cinemas this week.

However, it is not his performance, but the reactions of people on the street to 'Hitler' which have got the country talking as it prepares to welcome hundreds of thousands of refugees this year alone.

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Oliver Masucci plays the Nazi leader (pictured in character) in 'He's Back' ('Er ist wieder da'), a biting social satire by author Timur Vermes which was released in German cinemas this week

The film imagines what it would be like if Hitler was transported to the 21st century, and is interspersed with documentary footage which captures people's real reactions to seeing the 'dictator' on the streets

'He's Back' is based on Vermes' 'what-if' best-seller of the same name, published three years ago. In it, Hitler is baffled to find himself in a multicultural Germany led by a woman, Chancellor Angela Merkel.

He discovers TV chefs, Wikipedia and the fact that Poland still exists before he ends up a small-screen star, in a social commentary on society, mass media and celebrity hype.

But the film goes a step further than the novel, and intersperses the action with real life documentary footage - including footage of people welcoming back the despotic mass murderer with open arms.

In real life, Masucci - walking through the streets with a Hitler moustache and uniform - got rousing receptions from ordinary people, many of whom pose for 'selfies' with him.

The reaction horrified the actor, who revealed to the Guardian how he was made to feel like a 'pop star' when he arrived at the Brandenburg Gate.

'People clustered around me,' he said. 'One told me she loved me, and asked me to hug her. One, to my relief, started hitting me.'

Older people began pouring their hearts out to him, often voicing extremist views.

'Yes, bring back labour camps,' one person says to the 'dictator' in the film.

Masucci, best known as a stage actor, also told German daily newspaper Bild about his mixed feelings while shooting the unscripted scenes with people on the street.

'During shooting, I realised: I didn't really have to perform - people felt a need to talk, they wanted to pour their hearts out to a fatherly Hitler who was listening to them,' he said.

'I found it disturbing how quickly I could win people over. I mean, they were talking to Hitler.'

Masucci was horrified by how welcoming people were to 'Hitler', taking selfies, kissing him and some even telling him to bring back the labour camps - the darkest part of the Nazi regime

The film's release has cast an uncomfortable light on a country set to welcome hundreds of thousands of refugees this year. At one point, 'Hitler' notes there is not much difference between the 30s and today

In the film, his character chillingly notes 'a smouldering anger among the people, like in the 1930s,' with visible satisfaction.

Masucci's Hitler also meets members of the populist-nationalist Alternative for Germany party and the neo-Nazi NPD, while the final scenes show news footage of far-right mobs and a rally by the PEGIDA movement, short for 'Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the Occident'.

The release of the movie has touched off broad debate in a country where guilt over World War II and the Holocaust continues to influence political debate.

'A fake Hitler, a small moustache clearly helped people lose their inhibitions and... allowed insights into Germany's dark side,' found the daily Berliner Morgenpost, which added: 'The far-right ideology smoulders to this day and has found new forums... in the form of the Alternative for Germany and the PEGIDA movement.'

One viewer said the film showed the importance of debating the issue because the 'danger is here now'

A review by news portal Spiegel Online was more critical.

'Borat with a bar-moustache and side parting: It sounds like a clever flick,but really it's rather silly.

'Because what would be an appropriate response from a passer-by to the Hitler masquerade? It reveals nothing, neither people's indifference nor their hidden sympathies.'

At the public premiere Thursday, a Berlin audience roared with laughter during the funnier moments, but quietened during some of the real-life footage.

One viewer, who gave her name as Angela, said: 'It was all a bit too forced. The film is playing too hard on the fear about Nazi ideology, and they only picked out the worst sequences.'

Another viewer, Tobias, was more disturbed.