Tom Cruise compared to Joseph Goebbels

German historian compares Tom Cruise to Joseph Goebbels

A highly respected German historian has compared Tom Cruise’s scientology speech with a call to war by Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels.

Commenting on Cruise’s now infamous video rant delivered to Scientology members four years ago and leaked on to the internet last week, expert on World War II history, Guido Knopp, told a German newpaper: ‘Tom Cruise’s manner calls to mind Goebbels.’

The star is seen asking fellow members of the church: ‘Should we clean this place up?’

Knopp said it was bound to remind Germans of Goebbels' notorious call for ‘total war’, issued in Berlin on 18 February 1943. He told the Telegraph: ‘It is possible that the way in which Cruise speaks is common in many empowerment circles in the United States.

‘But the scene in which Cruise asks if the Scientologists should clean up the world and they all respond 'yes' will remind any German with an interest in history of Goebbels' infamous Sports Palace speech.’

Meanwhile, Cruise’s portrayal of Claus Schenk von Stauffenberg, a Nazi resistence hero, in the upcoming film Valkyrie, has caused controversy in Germany because of the actor's links to Scientology.