Actress Susan Sarandon called Pope Benedict XVI a Nazi during a discussion session at the Hamptons Film Festival over the weekend.
Sarandon, who won an Academy Award for her role in the 1995 anti-death penalty film “Dead Man Walking,” said she had sent a copy of the book on which the movie is based to the Pope.
“The last one. Not this Nazi one we have now,” she reportedly told Newsday, referring to the German-born pontiff. She later repeated her remark at the Ciroc vodka-sponsored panel.
She’s referring to the fact Joseph Ratzinger was conscripted into the Hitler Youth at age 14. Conscripted. As in “forced”. Which was typical for young boys in Germany at the time. Ratzinger was not a willing participant and in fact brought hardship to his family by refusing to attend meetings and take part in other activities.
The Anti-Defamation League, which fights antisemitism, slammed Sarandon for her ignorant remarks. In a statement, the group said her remarks were, “hateful, vindictive and only serve to diminish the true history and meaning of the Holocaust”. The group is calling for Sarandon to apologize.


by Stephan Tawney on October 18, 2011