Cruise 'honours Nazi resistance'

The commemoration was held at the site where a number of German officers were executed after an abortive attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler in 1944.

"It was a very moving moment," said actor Christian Berkel, who was quoted in German newspaper Bild am Sonntag.

The makers of Valkyrie were initially barred from filming on the Berlin site.

Positive light

Berkel added that Cruise, director Bryan Singer and screenwriter Christopher McQuarrie said a few words and requested the silence "out of respect for the place and out of respect for the life achievement of these people who were executed there".

Filming began on Friday at the Bendler Block, formerly a defence ministry facility and now a memorial to Third Reich resistance fighters.

Cruise portrays Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg in the film, who was put to death after plotting to assassinate the Nazi leader.

The German authorities' initial ban on filming scenes at the site was due to concerns over "the dignity of the place".

A defence ministry spokesman said the change of heart came after officials were convinced the film would portray post-war Germany in a positive light.

When the ban was first imposed, speculation mounted that it was because of German hostility towards Cruise's adherence to Scientology.

The country does not recognise it as a religion, but as a money-making cult.