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April 19, 2005
When Did the Pope Really Join the Hitler Youth?
But that's not right. Membership in a Hitler youth organization became mandatory in December 1936, even for ten-year-olds. (Here's the law itself.) The pope was nine and a half at that time, but presumably would have been required to join when he turned ten in April of 1937. (A March 1939 law toughened up the requirement. Here is an English translation.)
A partial explanation may lie in the fact that kids from age 10 to age 14 were technically in a branch of the organization called the Deutsches Jungvolk, or "German Young People." Only at 14 did kids switch from the part of the organization that was called the Deutsches Jungvolk to the part that was called the Hitler Jugend ("Hitler Youth"). But the Jungvolk was an intergral part of the larger organization, and many of its activities were similar.
None of this, I hasten to note, matters a great deal. The new pope was a youngster and then a teenager at this point in his life, and he should principally be assessed on the entire life he has lived, especially his adult life. I am in no position at all to make such an assessment.
However, some--even in the pope's hometown--have suggested a tendency on the part of the pope to suggest--falsely--that a posture more actively resistant to Nazism would have been impossible in early-1940s Germany. If the new pope is himself the source of the claim that he joined the Hitler Youth when he turned 14 rather than when he turned 10, this would tend to confirm an uncomfortable failure to face the full truth of his childhood and teenage years.
Posted by Eric at April 19, 2005 2:34 PM
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Comments
The information about his time in the Hilter Youth came directly from him.
He does say he had an exemption for a period due to his studies. Coupled with the fact that his father was anti-nazi, that may explain some gap. His later desertion of the army seems to speak to his view of the Nazi war effort.
a reasoned defense of Ratzinger against the claim that he was a Nazi supporter can be found here:
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1113704370906
I think it does matter what his mindset was at the time. Clearly it shaped his current thought process, in that he sees the Church as a bulwark against the types of abuses promulgated by the Nazis and (later) the Communists. Such a radical event in a young life is certain to shape that life. If he had been a willing and eager member, that would certainly have made him a different person than (as seems to be the case) a forced laborer.
Posted by: v.v. at April 19, 2005 4:01 PM
I assume that when you refer to the "uncomfortable failure to face the full truth" you're referring to a failure on Ratzinger's part to recognize the tremendous wrong that was done to him by the state at the time.
I mean, he too was a victim, wasn't he? A 10 year old boy, a 14 year old boy, coerced by law into "membership" in such organizations is a victim, isn't he? Surely not the only victim of Nazi Germany, and not the most innocent and not the one who suffered most, but a victim nonetheless.
Posted by: Thomas at April 19, 2005 11:14 PM
My fear is this: He'll be labeled a Nazi and certain groups will portray that he's only that.
It will interfere with any work that the Pope needs to get done.
Also, I predict that there will be a "Book" detailing the Nazi Occupation of the Vatican real soon.
Posted by: S.D. at April 21, 2005 9:02 AM