JERUSALEM: A Vatican spokesman had to clarify that young Joseph Ratzinger’s had a mandatory enrollment with Hitler’s youth organization. The Vatican and the Pope claims: «It had no role in his life».
Roman Catholic priest Lombardi first said at a press conference in Jerusalem:
«I have read something that is not true. The Pope never, never formed part of the Hitlerjugend, which was a corps of fanatic and ideological volunteers».
The spokesman later clarified his own statement because the Pope’s enrollment in the Hitler Youth was explained by Joseph Ratzinger himself in «Salt of the Earth» There he says he was automatically enrolled in the organization, though he did not participate in it.
In his book, Cardinal Ratzinger explains:
-Q: «Were you in the Hitler Youth?»
«At first we weren’t, but when the compulsory Hitler Youth was introduced in 1941, my brother was obliged to join. I was still too young, but later, as a seminarian, I was registered in the Hitler Youth».
Source: Zenit.org, Catholic News Service.
Facts about the Hitler Jugend
The Hitler Jugend (HJ) was a paramilitary organization of the Nazi Party. It existed from 1922 to 1945. The HJ was the second oldest paramilitary Nazi group, founded one year after its adult counterpart, the Sturmabteilung (the SA).
Often it is best to have the ‘facts’ visualized. Here you’ll find pictures that tell the story:
http://www.veltmaete.nl/in-gleichem-schritt/
and http://www.veltmaete.nl/in-gleichem-schritt-2/
Werner. Thanks.
And he didn’t think to join a resistance?
http:// (link removed). Editor.
Eu sabia! Um Nazi!!!
As far as I know the HJ was mandatory from 1936, basically by a law that decreed that every youth ‘was a member’ However, by that time the pope was already 21, whereas the HJ was there for boys 14-18.
Ergo, the pope joined voluntarily.
Furthermore, the law decreed that every youth was a member, but that didnt mean they were all called and therefore most never even got the HJ uniform.
The pope however did wear the HJ uniform in pictures in which he clearly is below 21 or even 18, so they must have been from say 1932 or 1933 when the HJ onlu had some 25-30.000 members and even was forbidden for a while during 1932.
Therefore the pope’s ‘excuse’ that it was ‘mandatory’ is bullshit.
If any, he didnt really resist the nazi ideas as he could have joined the ‘Weisse Rose’ the anti-nazi movement within the HJ