"In 1937 Ratzinger’s father retired and the family moved to Traunstein, a staunchly Catholic town in Bavaria close to the Führer’s mountain retreat in Berchtesgaden. He joined the Hitler Youth aged 14, shortly after membership was made compulsory in 1941.
He quickly won a dispensation on account of his training at a seminary. “Ratzinger was only briefly a member of the Hitler Youth and not an enthusiastic one,” concluded John Allen, his biographer.
Two years later Ratzinger was enrolled in an anti-aircraft unit that protected a BMW factory making aircraft engines. The workforce included slaves from Dachau concentration camp.
Ratzinger has insisted he never took part in combat or fired a shot - adding that his gun was not even loaded - because of a badly infected finger. He was sent to Hungary, where he set up tank traps and saw Jews being herded to death camps. He deserted in April 1944 and spent a few weeks in a prisoner of war camp."
And its easy to say too. Membership in the hitler youth was pretty much mandatory. Service in an anti aircraft battery in 1943? Well, they were desperate times. Even my nana served on an anti air battery (on the english side though)
Kinda weird though... I know someone who may have "worked" with him. A friend of the family spent time in Dachau as a young man. The stories he tells... chill to the bone. He lived. His family didn't.
I like how you try to see the situations with an open mindset instead of immediately assuming one conclusion/extreme or the other and jumping on board with molotov cocktails readied in either hand.
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He quickly won a dispensation on account of his training at a seminary. “Ratzinger was only briefly a member of the Hitler Youth and not an enthusiastic one,” concluded John Allen, his biographer.
Two years later Ratzinger was enrolled in an anti-aircraft unit that protected a BMW factory making aircraft engines. The workforce included slaves from Dachau concentration camp.
Ratzinger has insisted he never took part in combat or fired a shot - adding that his gun was not even loaded - because of a badly infected finger. He was sent to Hungary, where he set up tank traps and saw Jews being herded to death camps. He deserted in April 1944 and spent a few weeks in a prisoner of war camp."
Source: London Times
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Kinda weird though... I know someone who may have "worked" with him. A friend of the family spent time in Dachau as a young man. The stories he tells... chill to the bone. He lived. His family didn't.
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