2007-03-04 04:22:48 · 7 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Pope Benedict XVI was previously named Joseph Ratzinger.
* At age, 14 membership in Germany's "Hitler Youth" became mandatory. So Joseph Ratzinger enrolled
* He managed to get out early so he could study for the priesthood.
* Two years later, when he was 16, Ratzinger was drafted again by the German Army.
* Ratzinger worked as a helper in an anti-aircraft briagde.
* In 1945, he was put through basic training and stationed near his hometown in Bavaria.
* When Allied forces advanced, he deserted the German army — risking death by that act alone.
* After he escaped, Ratzinger was captured by American soldiers and spent the remainder of the war in a POW camp.
2007-03-04 05:09:20 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
He was a member of the Hitler Youth as a kid, and I believe he was drafted into that. And even if he wasnt, it still doesnt mean anything. Alot of parents joined their kids up with the Hitler Youth so that they wouldnt be persecuted by the Nazis.
My step mother's (who is German) father was drafted at 16 into what was left of the Nazi army in late '44. He wasnt a Nazi, but wouldve been shot or worse if he had refused.
2007-03-04 04:29:26 · answer #2 · answered by Jesus W. 6 · 3⤊ 1⤋
Pope Bendict the sixteenth did not even opt for to affix something that had to do with Hitler. He abandoned previous to the conflict ended. If i can undergo in options properly, the late Pope John Paul II apologized for the church saying that Catholics in Europe might want to have/ must have finished extra to assist. do not quote me in this, yet as a Catholic, i'm indignant at the same time as the different answerer stated that the church and Hitler were at the same time.
2016-10-17 10:14:27 · answer #3 · answered by knudsen 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
He was once drafted, but ran away and avoided service because of his beliefs. He was a seminarian at the time. At the time everyone was conscripted in Germany. You are in fact, accusing him of being German. Was he a Nazi, no, of course not.
2007-03-04 04:25:43 · answer #4 · answered by great gig in the sky 7 · 1⤊ 2⤋
As a boy, he was enrolled in the Nazi Youth against his will (it was compulsory).
2007-03-04 04:28:04 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
Yes, he was drafted for Nazi youth movement. That doesn't make him a Nazi today.
The fact that he is a bigot has nothing to do with this fact.
Ignacio
2007-03-04 04:27:36 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 4⤋
No, he was amember of the Hitler Youth.
There is a difference.
2007-03-04 04:37:43 · answer #7 · answered by NONAME 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋