Hitler-Platz Troubles?

Public names for locations in Germany....often go through a discussion later....where folks note a necessity for a new name.  Streets, city parks, and public buildings fall into this discussion.

In the 1880/1890 period, there were a fair number of statues erected for the Kaiser.  Streets were named after him when he came to "review" a city.  Parks were named after him.  After the 1914-1919 war....a review process popped up in most towns, and they agreed to some fundamental name changes.  The statues of the Kaiser could stay.....but the name had to disappear on public things.

The same issue came up in the late 1940s....after WW II ends.  Various streets, parks and public buildings were noted with "Hitler" somewhere in the description.  "Hitler" streets would eventually disappear....as would "Hitler" parks.

So this brings up to the 10th of January, 2014.

Somewhere yesterday....on Goggle maps....a digital way of observing where things are located....Theodor-Heuss-Platz suddenly disappeared from the Berlin map that Goggle operates.

Theodor-Heuss-Platz is one of the more notable avenues in Berlin.....disappeared for a while, and the old name....Adolph Hitler Platz appeared on the Google map.

For fourteen years....Hitler Platz was the standard accepted for this street area of Berlin.  This ended in 1947, as the local city council finally got around to cleaning up Nazi trends of the 1930s.

The new title given in 1947? Reichskanzlerplatz.  The Chancellor Avenue (for simplicity of definition).  This was a fine name for the avenue....at least for seventeen-odd years.  Around 1963....the local city government decided that it was time to recognize Theodor-Heuss....the first Chancellor of Germany, who happened to pass away a few months after the visit of President Kennedy to Germany.

As an American, I'm kinda used to the name change business.  Folks go through an era, and fifty years later....decide that such-and-such was racist or an idiot....then quietly vote to change the name to some other such-and-such.

In this case, some folks are asking who in Goggle allowed this brief comical name change?  Some NSA guy?  Some German teenage kid sitting in dad's attic?  Some Berlin geeky engineer gal with a devious motive?  It's hard to say.  Google will check this out and hope that they fixed the problem.  Personally, I don't think German political folks will take this as mere accident, and likely blame the NSA more than anyone else.

So you have to wonder....for a brief couple of hours....did some poor Chinese guy on a Berlin trip or some freaked-out Green Bay butcher on his vacation see Hitler-Platz on his digital map and get all upset?