The statue, made in the Soviet Union in the 1930s and bought at an auction, will be installed in front of the Gelsenkirchen headquarters of the Marxist-Leninist Party of Germany (MLPD).

A court bid by the local council to block the statue because of a neighbouring listed building, which the MLPD also owns, was defeated on Thursday, the party’s paper Rote Fahne reports.

Lawyer Frank Stierlin said: “The decision clearly states that the Lenin statue does not affect the monument value of the façade in any way and therefore does not require permission, and that the order to stop construction is therefore ‘obviously illegal’.

“The anti-communist points of view cited by the city are ‘not of relevance to historical monuments’.”