I'm curious...

[misanthrope]

...if Ratzinger was a devout Catholic as a child (as we can assume), how did he curry enough favor to be picked for Hitler Youth? Didn't the Nazis crack down on the Catholic church pretty hard?

[Connie_Corleone]

1. From what I've read...he had to join the Hitler Youth

All German children had to join.

[misanthrope]

2. Well, then...

...what about Jewish or gypsy children?

[SteppingRazor]

3. Hitler Youth was mandatory, but...

That doesn't mean you HAVE to join. John Paul II aided the Polish resistance in WWII. He didn't suck up to the Nazi invaders. Nuff said.

[beyurslf]

5. John Paul was 6 years older right? This would have made him

20 while Ratzinger was 14. Surely we can admit that 14yo's aren't able to make decisions that 20yos are.

[FreedomAngel82]

6. And what about

the kids of White Rose Society? They didn't join did they? Or did they die before they started making them?

[misanthrope]

10. Further illumination...

...The December 23, 1940 issue of Time magazine also contains an interesting article about Christians living in Germany, both Catholic and Protestant, who opposed and suffered under the Nazis. On page 38, it claims that by late 1940 over 200,000 Christians were prisoners in Nazi concentration camps, with some estimates as high as 800,000. On page 40, it reports on the Archbishop of Munich, Michael Cardinal -von Faulhaber, who led the Catholic opposition in Germany against the Nazis. In an Advent 1933 sermon, he preached: "Let us not forget that we were saved not by German blood but by the blood of Christ!" in response to Nazi racism. In 1934 the Cardinal "narrowly missed a Nazi bullet", while in 1938 a Nazi mob broke the windows in his residence. Even though he was over seventy and in poor health, he still led the Catholic German resistance against Hitler.

[tjdee]

4. Has he ever renounced that, or talked about it?

I don't care if he had to join or not, I do care if he ever commented on Nazism and that time in his life.

It'd be one thing for him to go "I had to join, as all children did, and the Nazis were oppressive blah blah blah blah but the Germans are good people blah blah blah", and another for him to say nothing on the topic at all.

[FreedomAngel82]

7. I agree

He should hold a conference and come clean and put an end to the rumors.

[tjdee]

8. I just googled...apparently he was in the army too and deserted?

And was subsequently captured by the Americans as a German POW...
http://p217.ezboard.com/ftheratzingerforumfrm21.showMessage?topicID=7.topic

[BurtWorm]

9. Excellent question.

:shrug: