EJP | In Depth | Benedict's 'past' not hurled

	Sunday, September 07, 2008 7 Elul, 5768

News

France

Germany

Western Europe

Eastern Europe

EU-Israel affairs

Year 2006 in Review

US 2008 ELECTION

Iran - Holocaust

Voices

Culture

In Depth

Mideast Crisis

World Cup

On Anglo Jewry

Week at a glance

France Election

EU and Annapolis Summit

News from outside of Europe

Holocaust Remembrance Day

July 2008 at a glance

The Calendar

Links

Benedict's 'past' not hurled

Updated: 18/Aug/2005 16:51

Benedict XVI

Page tools

	Email to friend
	Print this page
	Bookmark this page
	Add your view

Pope Benedict XVI, making his first visit back to Germany since his election, has never hidden his youthful involvement with the Hitler Youth, nor has it ever been held against him.

Roman Catholics are much more interested in the pope’s reputation as the Church’s doctrinal enforcer during his 24 years as head of the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Like most young men of his generation, the pope was swept up in the Nazi tide, albeit briefly. But he has been widely praised by Jewish organizations for his stand against anti-Semitism throughout his career at the Vatican and his election as pope following John Paul II’s death in April was warmly greeted by Israel and Jewish groups in the United States.

He has vowed since becoming pope to pursue better relations with Jews, following the lead set by his Polish predecessor.

A Hitler Youth member in summer uniform

Born in the Bavarian town of Marktl am Inn on April 16, 1927, the former Joseph Ratzinger entered a seminary in 1939 to begin his training as a priest just as World War II was starting.

He recalled that he did not enroll in the Hitler Youth as soon as he was eligible but it quickly became hard to avoid. "In order to qualify for the reduction in schooling fees that I needed, you had to prove you had paid a visit to the Hitler Youth," he said in his autobiography.

So he reluctantly joined up, along with most Germans of his age.

Most experts agree he would have had little choice -- anyone who refused found life for them and their families was made extremely uncomfortable.

In 1943, with the war raging, Benedict XVI was drafted into the German anti-aircraft corps but months later he reached military age and was attached to a labour detail commanded by men he described as "fanatical ideologues who terrorised us".

As the conflict moved into its final stages he underwent basic infantry training but illness kept him away from the battlefields and as the Allies approached, Benedict XVI deserted the army and returned to southern Germany.

US troops briefly held him as a prisoner of war, but he was released in June 1945, more than a month after Germany surrendered.

He was ordained priest in 1951, spent much of his early career as a theology professor and became archbishop of Munich in March 1977. Four months later Paul VI made him a cardinal.

Pope in Cologne

	Schilly to attend Papal visit
	First Pope visit to synagogue since 1986
	Pope's wartime experience not held against him
	Cologne Jews pepare for Pope
	Pope to meet Jews and Muslims