[Callahan]

The DUmmies and their ilk are going nuts because Ratzinger was once enrolled in the Hitler Youth. I guess all Germans from that era are guilty in their eyes.

[demkicker]

The DUmmies and their ilk are going nuts because Ratzinger was once enrolled in the Hitler Youth. I guess all Germans from that era are guilty in their eyes.

I got this from LauraleeBraswell:

Ratzinger isn't a Nazi

Ratzinger was born in Marktl am Inn, in Bavaria, the son of a police officer who was staunchly anti-Nazi. In 1937 Ratzinger's father retired and settled in the town of Traunstein. When Ratzinger turned 14 in 1941, he was required by law to join the Hitler Youth , but according to his biographer John Allen he was not an enthusiastic member. In 1943, at the age of 16 he was, along with the rest of his class, drafted into the Flak or anti-aircraft corps, responsible for the guarding of a BMW plant outside Munich. He was then sent for basic infantry training and was posted to Hungary, where he worked setting up anti-tank defences until he deserted in April 1944 (an offence punishable by death). In 1945 he was briefly held in an Allied POW camp. By June he was released, and he and his brother (Georg) entered a Catholic seminary. On June 29, 1951, they were ordained by Cardinal Faulhaber of Munich. His dissertation (1953) was on Saint Augustine, his Habilitationsschrift (second dissertation) on Saint Bonaventure.

[Melpomene]

What they forget to mention is that membership was mandatory for all young people at the time he joined.

[tillacum]

If the German youth of that era wanted their family to eat they were enrolled the Youth.

[armymarinemom]

The DUmmies and their ilk are going nuts

I sauntered over to DU to check it out. I don't think I have ever seen such foul language used in the same sentence as the word Pope. Those folks are very sick puppies.

[ambrose]

but they undoubtedly love Robert Byrd, and think his involvement in the Klan in his mid-20s was simply a youthful indiscretion.