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CNN NEWSROOM

Exclusive Interview with Holocause Survivor Gene Klein; Some Cast Members Walk Out on Adam Sandler Film Set; Chile's Calbuco Volcano Set to Erupt for Third Time; Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired April 24, 2015 - 15:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


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[15:34:28] BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN HOST: Now to the trial that is bringing the atrocities of the holocaust back into focus. This 93- year-old former Nazi guard who's standing trial this week for his role at the Auschwitz concentration camp. Oscar Groening told a German court that while he is quote/unquote "morally guilty," he says he took no active role in the killings that left 300,000 people dead. At 21 years of age, this SS guard would tear through the luggage and belongings of death camp victims, confiscating their money, their jewelry before they went on to the gas chambers.

Prosecutors argue that Groening was an accessory to the mass murders he observed. Many holocaust survivors have been attending this trial. Survivor Gene Klein was in Auschwitz the same year Groening was a guard. He was just 16 years of age. And Klein spoke with Jean Casarez here at CNN and said that no matter his job at the camp, Groening should be held responsible for the innocent people killed in Auschwitz's gas chambers, including Klein's own father.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[15:35:35] JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I first want to talk to you about this trial going on right now. How does it affect you?

GENE KLEIN, HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR, AUSCHWITZ: You know, it is really personal for me because at the age of 16, I was shipped out to Auschwitz. Of course, we didn't know about this. We had no idea where we were going. And my father was killed there. Then I hear that an ex-SS soldier or officer is going to be tried. I really am very interested of how the outcome will be.

My feeling is that people are saying, he's 93 years old, you know, poor old man, what's going to happen to him. That's not the way to look at it as far as I'm concerned. This old man was 23 years old 70 years ago, and he was part of the SS. He probably joined the SS as a volunteer. He knew that the SS was involved in mass killings in every country that the Nazis overran in Europe.

And so just because he had a desk job and he wasn't one of those soldiers that threw the poison gas, you know, canisters into the gas chambers, it doesn't make any difference. He was part of this machinery that was put together very, very smartly and very efficiently to kill as many Jews as possible. And not just Jews but other people also that they didn't think were good enough to live.

CASAREZ: You arrived there in spring of 1944.

KLEIN: Correct.

CASAREZ: That is exactly when he was there.

KLEIN: Exactly. My feeling is that this man could have been right there on the platform where the selections were going on. This is when officers were going, pointing to people. You go to the left, and pointing to other people, you go to the right. Just with a flick of finger. You this way, you this way, which happened to my father and I.

The next day, I got a-hold of a polish prisoner who has been in this place a couple of years. So he knows what's going on here. And I said to him, would you mind telling me how come my father went to the left and I went to the right? He says, come with me. Takes me outside. He says, look over there. There's a huge chimney spewing smoke and, you know, flames. And he says to me, your father is going up the chimney.

My brain can't handle this. I was with my father yesterday. Now he's going up the chimney. And then he tells me exactly what this place is. This is Auschwitz, the biggest killing machine on the face of the earth.

CASAREZ: So when someone says to you, what should the outcome of this trial be, guilty or not guilty, you say?

KLEIN: I would say definitely guilty. I'm not setting the sentence, but there's no way that you can be in the SS in the 40s and not be guilty of something terrible.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Your father is going up the chimney. Are you hearing his story here? He says absolutely should be guilty. Gene Klein was interned in Auschwitz for an entire year. He went on to discuss the day he was liberated by Russian soldiers and the Nazi engineer who risked his own life to sneak food into the prisoners.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[15:39:14] KLEIN: He tells me, I'm a civil engineer. I will be here for the next two weeks. And to survey the roads, the future roads. I need someone to help me with my equipment. And he just walks away from me. This is the first time in six months I've been alone. I've always been with hundreds of prisoners. I am on vacation. I don't have to go to slave labor.

Next day, the first thing he says to me is this. I know what terrible situation you people are in. Again, I'm thinking, OK, well, you know, you are one of those people who put me in this situation. But the next thing out of his mouth is, I'm going to bring you back to hook up with your work party to march back to the camp a half hour early. Then I point to a barracks in the woods, this is where the SS guards and the civilian German employees have their lunch. It's going to be way past lunchtime. Don't worry.

Go to the far corner. Look under the bench. Piece of chicken, a piece of real bread, a piece of cheese, little cup of milk, and I just thank him and thank him and thank him. Just because the Nazis are killing people, I can't possibly condemn all the Germans for being killers. This man took an extremely serious step to help another human being. If he would have been seen by an SS guard, he could have wound up in the same camp I was in.

I credit this man for saving my life. And one morning we come out and the first thing we see, the guards are gone from the machine gun towers. And lot of the guards had their families in little bungalows outside the camp. So maybe they just picked up and left. So very cautiously, we're sneaking through the barracks to get a really good look at the only gate to the camp. There are no guards there.

So we are sneaking up to the gate. We see a big heavy chamber with a padlock, locking the gate, but no human beings. We are locked in to this camp. And then it's a real foggy morning. And we are just like looking out at this fog. And all of the sudden, like a mirage, there's a break in the fog. And we see two horses with one horseman coming closer and closer and closer. And all of the sudden one of the polish kids says, look at his hat. Red star. Telling myself, I made it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Wow. Gene Klein. Thank you so much for spending some time with us for the interview. I can tell you a little bit more about him. He travels the world with his daughter, Jill, to discuss the power of human resilience. And he says the reason he's been so vocal about his experience at Auschwitz is to remind young people that a holocaust can happen again in their lifetime.

And here's what he tells them. If you see prejudices about religion and ethnicity in your life, he says, don't stay quiet.

We'll be right back.

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[15:46:52] BALDWIN: Native American actors taking a stand. Some cast members starring in this upcoming Adam Sandler film are so upset with the comedic star, they walked off the set. This whole controversy surrounds Sandler's new western satire. It is called "the Ridiculous Six." It's airing on Netflix. It's a spoof of classic "magnificent seven." And according to the Indian country today media network, some of these actors took issue with parts of the script, saying they are offensive to women, offensive to native Americans, multiple slurs used. And when these actors complained, some said they were rebuffed.

Allison Young, a native Navajo and a former film student is one of the actors who left the set. She told the media network, quote, "the producers just told us, if you guys are so sensitive, you should leave."

Here's what we have from Netflix. The movie has ridiculous in the title for a reason, because it is ridiculous. It is a broad satire of western movies and the stereotypes they popularized, featuring a diverse cast that's not only part of but in on the joke.

Here she is, Allison Young.

Allison, thank you so much for taking the time today. You walked off. You walked away. Tell me why.

ALLISON YOUNG, WALKED OFF ADAM SANDLER'S MOVIE SET: Well, the cultural adviser on the film set was the first person to walk off, and we followed his lead. And I think it says something when --

BALDWIN: A cultural adviser is the one who's leaving.

YOUNG: Yes, who's offended and leaves the set.

BALDWIN: I don't want to have you use any of the slurs, but I mean, can you describe how offensive or what kind of language was used?

YOUNG: The broken English is in there, which the native American women -- you know, two of the native American women are played by white actresses, and they're using the broken English. And then there's the names that were reported like Beaver Breath and wears no bra. And you know, especially one scene that I felt very offended by was when a native American woman, who's played by a white actress, was passed out on the ground, and the brothers of Adam Sandler in the film are pouring liquor on her. And then she jumps up and starts dancing with everyone.

BALDWIN: OK. So those are some of the reasons why you left. I'm wondering, I mean, just knowing Adam Sandler's films of past and knowing this was a satire, by no means am I saying any of this is OK, by the way, but did you have the script ahead of time? Because I did read you were conflicted even in going into the film in the first place.

YOUNG: No, we didn't have the script. We didn't know anything about the film besides it being an Adam Sandler film and a comedy. And the only reason I was conflicted going in is because I knew that it was portraying native Americans in that time period, the old Hollywood westerns. [15:50:07] BALDWIN: You were quoted as saying that native American

actors are quote/unquote "still just Hollywood Indians." What do you mean by that?

YOUNG: What I mean by that is going in and experiencing it firsthand. The film is supposed to be portraying the Apache tribe. And a lot of the costumes that we had to wear do not portray the apache tribe or their traditional wear. And you know, in old Hollywood westerns they dressed us up in costumes and sat us next to a tepee. And not all tribes, you know, even have a tepee in their culture, much like the apache tribe is the same way. They don't have tepees. And as well, you know, I was bronzed. You know, that's one thing that I saw, in hair and makeup when I went through. I'm full blooded Navajo.

BALDWIN: But they added bronzer to you to make you look darker?

YOUNG: Right. And I was a little confused by that.

BALDWIN: Well, so you walked. Alison Young, we'll see how the movie does, but, there you go. There is your perspective, you and I imagine and it sounds like a dozen other actors including the cultural adviser.

Alison, thank you.

YOUNG: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Well, now to this. We have a live look of smoke clearly. This is fuming out of a volcano. This is Chile. It erupted twice this week and CNN has meat it to the town. We're right in front of the volcano. We're going to take you there live coming up.

Also ahead, Baltimore police about to give more details about the death of 25-year-old Freddie Gray. Expected to speak at the top of the hour. We will bring that to you live as well.

Stay right here.

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[15:57:20] BALDWIN: Anderson, thank you. Before I let you go I have to let you see these pictures out of Chile. You hear the quote, "absolutely apocalyptic." This is the way locals have been describing the scene in (INAUDIBLE), in part of mountain Chile. This is called Calbuco volcano. It erupted twice in 48 hours this week. Authorities who evacuated 4400 people from their home thus far.

I mean, look at the smoke there. This is stunning. Now, their neighborhood is absolutely blanketed in ash.

CNN's Sashta Darlington joins me now from (INAUDIBLE), Chile. And I mean the pictures behind you, that tells a story and now we're hearing a possible third eruption?

SASHTA DARLINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Exactly. You can imagine people here are really on edge. This is the Ensenada. This is one of the first towns evacuated. The ash here is 23 inches thick. It is on top of the roofs, on top of the schools. And they did get people out of here pretty quickly.

But now they're coming back in taking out the animals. This is a very agricultural area. They're taking out the sheep, the horses, they are even taking the salmon out of the rivers. This is a big salmon area. Probably what you eat in the United States is coming from here.

So they're trying to get everything out of here. Again worried that there could be another eruption. This did take everybody by surprise. This was the first major eruption in more than 50 years and the first volcanic activity we have seen at Calbuco since 1962. But experts are now saying look at it. It's still smoking. It is unstable. They believe another crater is opening up inside the volcano and that we could see an even bigger eruption.

So, they've already got about 4400 people evacuated. They're now moving to other towns trying to evacuate another 2,000 people, not only because of this activity, but also because the rivers are rising. You're getting the ash in them. Some of the lava is melting the snow on the mountains. So they're also worried about flooding. A really difficult time down here.

BALDWIN: I'm still back on you saying they're taking the salmon out of the river, Sashta. That is the degree to which the precautions they're going. Can you tell me talking to people in the neighborhoods, did they ever think -- were they ever worried about what was in their back yard?

DARLINGTON: This is a volcanic region. There are earthquakes. I think people in Chile tend to worry more about earthquakes, but along with earthquake drills. You see this volcanic activity. This was not a focus of concern. It hadn't gone off since 1972. So this is what brings people here for the trekking for the salmon. But this is also -- this is what they have to deal with every 50 years this thing blows. Will they even be able to move back in? I mean, these trees aren't coming back anytime soon. This is going to kill the crops, the trees, you name it, Brooke.

BALDWIN: My goodness. Incredible images there in Ensenada, Chile.

Sashta Darlington, thank you so much. You and the crew for being there and watching all of this as it could blow a third time.

I'm Brooke Baldwin. Thank you for being with me. Have a wonderful weekend. "The LEAD" with Jake Tapper starts right now.