A German historian has compared Tom Cruise’s infamous rant about Scientology to a call to war by Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels. Guido Knopp, an expert on Second World War history, told Bild newspaper that Tom’s bizarre video address delivered to Scientology members, which surfaced on YouTube last week, ‘inevitably’ recalled Goebbels. The actor asks fellow members of the church: “Should we clean this place up?” Guido said it was bound to remind Germans of Goebbels’ notorious speech in Berlin on February 18 1943 when he asked the audience: “Do you want total war?”. The historian added: “It may be the case that Cruise’s delivery style is not uncommon in certain religious movements in the US. But for Germans with an interest in history, that scene where he asks whether the Scientologists should clean up the world and everyone shouts ‘yes’ is inevitably reminiscent of Goebbels’ notorious speech.” It is not the first time Tom has compared to the vile Nazi. His portrayal of resistance hero Claus Schenk von Stauffenberg, an aristocrat who led a failed plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler in 1944, in new flick Valkyrie caused unhappiness in Germany. During filming, the chief spokesman of the country’s Protestant Church said: “Cruise has become the Goebbels of Scientology. This film will have the same propaganda advantages for Scientology as the 1936 Olympics had for the Nazis.” Scientology is often described in Germany as a sect that exploits its members financially. In December, regional ministers agreed to investigate the possibility of banning it.

[Source: Bild]

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