Jewish groups demand Winslet Oscar ban

Jewish human rights organisations have claimed that Kate Winslet should not be awarded a best actress Oscar for The Reader.

Holocaust education groups have denounced the film as "the worst Holocaust film ever made" and a "repellent form of revisionism", claiming that it portrays female prison camp guard Hanna Schmitz too sympathetically.

"Essentially it takes a woman who serves in, is responsible for, is complicit in, you pick the words, in the deaths of at least 300 Jews - and her big secret shame is that she's illiterate," said Mark Weitzman, head of The Simon Wiesenthal Centre.

Trudy Gold, chief executive of the London Jewish Cultural Centre, told Jewish News: "This is just one of a spate of films portraying sympathetic Nazis. This woman acted monstrously, there’s no question about that.

"The question is have we gotten to the point where we have to make heroines out of Nazis? I do find it a bit sick."

Winslet has already won a Bafta and Golden Globe for her role in the movie.

The 81st annual Academy Awards take place on Sunday.