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Ratzinger a Nazi? Don't believe it
Jerusalem Post ^ | Apr. 18, 2005 | Sam Ser

Posted on 04/19/2005 9:52:18 AM PDT by Alouette

London's Sunday Times would have us believe that one of the leading contenders for the papacy is a closet Nazi. In if-only-they-knew tones, the newspaper informs readers that German-born Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was a member of the Hitler Youth during World War II and suggests that, because of this, the "panzer cardinal" would be quite a contrast to his predecessor, John Paul II.

The article also classifies Ratzinger as a "theological anti-Semite" for believing in Jesus so strongly that – gasp! – he thinks that everyone, even Jews, should accept him as the messiah.

To all this we should say, "This is news?!" As the Sunday Times article admits, Ratzinger's membership in the Hitler Youth was not voluntary but compulsory; also admitted are the facts that the cardinal – only a teenager during the period in question – was the son of an anti-Nazi policeman, that he was given a dispensation from Hitler Youth activities because of his religious studies, and that he deserted the German army.

Ratzinger has several times gone on record on his supposedly "problematic" past. In the 1997 book Salt of the Earth, Ratzinger is asked whether he was ever in the Hitler Youth.

"At first we weren't," he says, speaking of himself and his older brother, "but when the compulsory Hitler Youth was introduced in 1941, my brother was obliged to join. I was still too young, but later as a seminarian, I was registered in the Hitler Youth. As soon as I was out of the seminary, I never went back. And that was difficult because the tuition reduction, which I really needed, was tied to proof of attendance at the Hitler Youth.

"Thank goodness there was a very understanding mathematics professor. He himself was a Nazi, but an honest man, and said to me, 'Just go once to get the document so we have it...' When he saw that I simply didn't want to, he said, 'I understand, I'll take care of it' and so I was able to stay free of it."

Ratzinger says this again in his own memoirs, printed in 1998. In his 2002 biography of the cardinal, John Allen, Jr. of the National Catholic Reporter wrote in detail about those events.

The only significant complaint that the Times makes against Ratzinger's wartime conduct is that he resisted quietly and passively, rather than having done something drastic enough to earn him a trip to a concentration camp. Of course, whenever it is said that a German failed the exceptional-resistance-to-the-Nazis test, it would behoove us all to recognize that too many Jews failed it, as well.

If he were truly a Nazi sympathizer, then it would undoubtedly have become evident during the past 60 years. Yet throughout his service in the church, Ratzinger has distinguished himself in the field of Jewish-Catholic relations.

As prefect of the Doctrine of the Faith, Ratzinger played an instrumental role in the Vatican's revolutionary reconciliation with the Jews under John Paul II. He personally prepared Memory and Reconciliation, the 2000 document outlining the church's historical "errors" in its treatment of Jews. And as president of the Pontifical Biblical Commission, Ratzinger oversaw the preparation of The Jewish People and Their Sacred Scriptures in the Christian Bible, a milestone theological explanation for the Jews' rejection of Jesus.

If that's theological anti-Semitism, then we should only be so lucky to "suffer" more of the same.

As for the Hitler Youth issue, not even Yad Vashem has considered it worthy of further investigation. Why should we?


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; Foreign Affairs; Germany; Israel; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events; Philosophy
KEYWORDS: adl; antidefamationleague; antisemitism; archbishopofmunich; benedict; benedictxvi; catholic; catholicchurch; catholicism; deutschejungvolk; hitler; hitleryouth; holocaust; israel; josephratzinger; judaism; jugenbund; jungvolk; munich; nazi; nazinot; nazis; nextpope; nuremburg; papacy; pope; popebenedictxvi; ratzinger; smearcampaign; ss; worldwarii; wwii
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throughout his service in the church, Ratzinger has distinguished himself in the field of Jewish-Catholic relations.

Let us hope he will continue on this path as Pope Benedict XVI.

1 posted on 04/19/2005 9:52:20 AM PDT by Alouette
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To: 1bigdictator; 1st-P-In-The-Pod; 2sheep; A Jovial Cad; A_Conservative_in_Cambridge; a_witness; ...
May G-D bless and guide Pope Benedict XVI

FRmail me to be added or removed from this Judaic/pro-Israel ping list.

WARNING: This is a high volume ping list

2 posted on 04/19/2005 9:53:46 AM PDT by Alouette (If I owned Hell and I owned Brooklyn, I'd live in Hell and rent out Brooklyn.)
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To: Alouette

Viva il papa!


3 posted on 04/19/2005 9:54:05 AM PDT by SaintThomasMorePrayForUs
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To: Alouette

I'm just waitinf for the coming liberal meltdown with this appointment.


4 posted on 04/19/2005 9:54:14 AM PDT by cyborg (Serving fresh, hot Anti-opus since 18 April 2005)
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To: Alouette

This is only the beginning. Get ready for a flood of stories.


5 posted on 04/19/2005 9:54:14 AM PDT by Andy from Beaverton (I only vote Republican to stop the Democrats)
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To: 1bigdictator; 1st-P-In-The-Pod; 2sheep; A Jovial Cad; A_Conservative_in_Cambridge; a_witness; ...
May G-D bless and guide Pope Benedict XVI

FRmail me to be added or removed from this Judaic/pro-Israel ping list.

WARNING: This is a high volume ping list

6 posted on 04/19/2005 9:54:50 AM PDT by Alouette (If I owned Hell and I owned Brooklyn, I'd live in Hell and rent out Brooklyn.)
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To: Alouette

well this is just great.......... the first article (at FR)I read about our new Pope, and its this crap.


7 posted on 04/19/2005 9:55:05 AM PDT by go-ken-go
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To: Alouette



He isn't a Nazi.


Ratzinger was born in Marktl am Inn, in Bavaria, the son of a police officer who was staunchly anti-Nazi. In 1937 Ratzinger's father retired and settled in the town of Traunstein. When Ratzinger turned 14 in 1941, he was required by law to join the Hitler Youth , but according to his biographer John Allen he was not an enthusiastic member. In 1943, at the age of 16 he was, along with the rest of his class, drafted into the Flak or anti-aircraft corps, responsible for the guarding of a BMW plant outside Munich. He was then sent for basic infantry training and was posted to Hungary, where he worked setting up anti-tank defences until he deserted in April 1944 (an offence punishable by death). In 1945 he was briefly held in an Allied POW camp. By June he was released, and he and his brother (Georg) entered a Catholic seminary. On June 29, 1951, they were ordained by Cardinal Faulhaber of Munich. His dissertation (1953) was on Saint Augustine, his Habilitationsschrift (second dissertation) on Saint Bonaventure.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Cardinal_Ratzinger


8 posted on 04/19/2005 9:55:08 AM PDT by LauraleeBraswell ( We must stand behind TOM DELAY!)
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To: go-ken-go
its this crap.

Why is it "crap"? The article completely refutes the London Times accusation.

9 posted on 04/19/2005 9:56:23 AM PDT by Alouette (If I owned Hell and I owned Brooklyn, I'd live in Hell and rent out Brooklyn.)
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To: Alouette

He experienced FIRST HAND what Nazism was and he rejected it. Like John Paul, he knows the truth.


10 posted on 04/19/2005 9:56:49 AM PDT by Dallas59 (" I have a great team that is going to beat George W. Bush" John Kerry -2004)
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To: Alouette

Thank you for posting this article. Have sent it to Dimocrat friends.


11 posted on 04/19/2005 9:57:41 AM PDT by RushCrush (Blind Rushbot)
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To: Alouette
The left is going get UNHINGED about all of this. I'll get the popcorn started.

God Bless Pope Benedict XVI

12 posted on 04/19/2005 9:58:05 AM PDT by SaveTheChief (Oskee Wow Wow Illinois)
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To: Alouette
London Tmes? NYT's headline will probably be Holy See Nazi .
13 posted on 04/19/2005 9:59:24 AM PDT by hflynn
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To: SaveTheChief

Is that going to be his name?


14 posted on 04/19/2005 10:00:45 AM PDT by Mamzelle
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To: Alouette

I agree. I heard about the publicity surrounding this issue yesterday, to my dismay. It is important that we are aware of what really occurred, since the Left will surely try to use this to discredit our new Pope.


15 posted on 04/19/2005 10:00:54 AM PDT by trisham ("Live Free or Die," General John Stark, July 31, 1809)
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To: Alouette

I can hardly imagine this. I was born in 1983, so John Paul II was the only pope in my lifetime. Even as a Protestant, this is an exciting and historic day. Plus, those who would have the church change so they can feel better are deeply saddened. I love it.:)


16 posted on 04/19/2005 10:01:00 AM PDT by WinOne4TheGipper (Democratic Underground- where dim wits go to be impressed by the intellect of half wits.)
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To: Alouette

I think his personal history during the Third Reich demonstrates sufficiently that he was anti-Nazi. No news here.


17 posted on 04/19/2005 10:01:36 AM PDT by popdonnelly
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To: cyborg

Jesus -- not the bishop of Rome -- is head of the church.


18 posted on 04/19/2005 10:02:09 AM PDT by churchillbuff
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To: cyborg
"I'm just waitinf for the coming liberal meltdown with this appointment."

Check DU, they are in freefall as we speak. Hehehehe

19 posted on 04/19/2005 10:02:11 AM PDT by Mad Dawgg ("`Eddies,' said Ford, `in the space-time continuum.' `Ah,' nodded Arthur, `is he? Is he?'")
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To: Alouette
Ratzinger a Nazi? Don't believe it

The article also classifies Ratzinger as a "theological anti-Semite" for believing in Jesus so strongly that ? gasp! ? he thinks that everyone, even Jews, should accept him as THE MESSIAH.

Yep......he does wear a 'Jewish Skull Cap'.......maybe he 'is' the ________

20 posted on 04/19/2005 10:02:16 AM PDT by maestro
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