ADL: Pope 'Atoned' for Hitler Youth

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today welcomed the election of German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger as the new pope, Benedict XVI.

Under his leadership in Germany and Rome, the Catholic Church made important strides in improving Catholic-Jewish relations and atoning for the sin of anti-Semitism.

Cardinal Ratzinger has been a leader in this effort and has made important statements in the spirit of sensitivity and reconciliation with the Jewish people.

"We welcome the new Papacy of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. From the Jewish perspective, the fact that he comes from Europe is important, because he brings with him an understanding and memory of the painful history of Europe and of the 20th Century experience of European Jewry.

"Having lived through World War II, Cardinal Ratzinger has great sensitivity to Jewish history and the Holocaust. He has shown this sensitivity countless times, in meetings with Jewish leadership and in important statements condemning anti-Semitism and expressing profound sorrow for the Holocaust. We remember with great appreciation his Christmas reflections on December 29, 2000, when he memorably expressed remorse for the anti-Jewish attitudes that persisted through history, leading to 'deplorable acts of violence' and the Holocaust. Cardinal Ratzinger said: 'Even if the most recent, loathsome experience of the Shoah (Holocaust) was perpetrated in the name of an anti-Christian ideology, which tried to strike the Christian faith at its Abrahamic roots in the people of Israel, it cannot be denied that a certain insufficient resistance to this atrocity on the part of Christians can be explained by an inherited anti-Judaism present in the hearts of not a few Christians.'

"Though as a teenager he was a member of the Hitler Youth, all his life Cardinal Ratzinger has atoned for the fact. In our years of working on improving Catholic-Jewish ties, ADL has had opportunities to work with Cardinal Ratzinger. We look forward to continuing that relationship."

Too bad Foxman didn't recall here that he was sheltered---and saved from certain death by Catholics-----and actually was a practicing Catholic. Foxman apparently now resents it. In later years, he has spoken critically about the family who sheltered him.

EXCERPT

Abraham H. Foxman's Story: A Life Saved, A Life of Service

Part I: A Life Saved

I was born in 1940, in Baranowicz, Poland. My parents tried to stay ahead of the Germans and so we headed east. The Germans caught up with us in the Lithuanian city of Vilnius in 1941. For my parents, there was nowhere to run.

My nanny, Bronislawa Kurpi was Polish-Catholic and when the order came for Jews to be assembled into the Ghetto, she asked my parents what was to become of me. My mother answered that what was going to happen to them would happen to me. My nanny hastily offered to take me from them, to keep me safe until their return. As my mother recalled, it was a cold autumn day when Ms. Kurpi walked away with me. My mother recalled looking on sorrowfully with my father through the edges of the curtains, not knowing what was to become of me. It was a decision which was incredibly difficult. I guess they never really believed that it was going to be four years before they would see me again. Imagine the confusion and pain this experience inflicted on all involved.

Growing-up for the next four years in German-occupied Vilnius, Lithuania, I was called Henryk Stanislas Kurpi. To the world, Bronislawa Kurpi was my mother. She had me baptized by a priest and raised me as a Catholic. I learned how to pray with a rosary and kneel at the altar of the church. I could not play with other children, as it was too risky. There was always the possibility that someone would see that I was circumcised and discover my Jewish identity. Had my parents died during the Holocaust, it is a possibility that I may have even become a priest when I grew up.

Miraculously, my parents survived the Holocaust. Their first thought was to come and get me, their only child, back. My nanny did not see eye to eye with my parents. She did not want to give me back. There were several custody battles between my parents and my nanny, with my parents winning out in the end. That's when they decided they had no future in Lithuania, which also happened to be under the control of the Soviet Union.

To leave the Soviet Union and the surrounding satellite countries where its influence was felt, was not an easy task, however. We were smuggled across the borders until we got to the American Zone in Austria. At this time, we lived in a Displaced Persons (DP) camp, where I was able to play with children my own age for the first time in my life. Eventually, my family and I were granted visas to the United States, where we moved in 1950. I was 10 years old, and my father always said that in that time, I had lived a lifetime.

After being reunited with my parents, I had to learn how to be Jewish, which was a growing process. One thing I remember is making the sign of the cross in the home of my parents, who were observant Jews. Even once I was reunited with my parents, I was a good practicing Catholic. As a child, I went to church, I said my prayers and I wore a crucifix. I cried when other children called me a Jew. Christianity was my means of survival and it is because of this that I have always had great respect for it.

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