Quote:
Originally posted by SlaveNoMore
I often agree with you - but on this one you should shut the fuck up.
"Hitler Youth" was mandatory back then for children of a certain age. Otherwise, your family would slowly be ostracized right out of their house into a work camp.
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Not joining the Hitler Youth did not mean you were going to any camp necessarily. That sounds nice but wasn't the case. There were families who refused to register their kids and while they were thorns in the side of the Nazis and were harrassed, not all were killed or sent to a work camp. And it is sad that the new Pope defends his wartime service with a German army anti-aircraft unit (which was served by Jewish slaves from camps) by saying he never fired a bullet or personally killed a Jew and he eventually deserted. Well that's nice. But we're talking about the highest ranking position in a religion which praises someone dying on a cross for a good cause. I read somewhere it being summed up pretty well that while Ratzinger wasn't an enthusiastic Hitler Youth or military man, he and his family made their choice on how to deal with the Nazi movement. In contrast to the Ratzingers's decision, men and women of much lesser spirituality made decisions concerning the Nazis that were riskier to themselves than the Ratzingers; because it was the right thing to do. I expect the highest rank of the Catholic Church to have taken the most honorable actions back then even if it involved some sacrifice.
Bottom line -- with all he saw: coughing, sick, starving workers in his unit, Jews being herded into camps, the Ratzingers took nobody under their wing. They split for their country digs and hid out like a bunch of pussies.
