The Pope was a victim of Hitler just like many other Germans, he was not a war criminal, he was not a Nazi and he has never said anything that would lead anyone to believe he felt anything but love for the Jewish people. It appears the left is simply perturbed because they were finally faced with an election that there was no possibility of interfering with.
Wow! Congrats to Foxman for being a gentleman.
This is good to hear. I had some concerns about the reactions of the Jewish people to a German pope.
Ratzinger a Nazi? Don't believe it
Jerusalem Post ^ | Apr. 18, 2005 | Sam Ser
Posted on 04/19/2005 12:52:18 PM EDT by Alouette
I'm surprised by the choice of Joseph Ratzinger to be Pope because of his background in the Nazi Youth. However, he was young and impressionable during a horrible time and never committed any war crimes. I think he deserves to be given a chance.
Atone for what?!
Foxman and the ADL are still a joke. They still have an anti-Christian bias. They like to indirectly accuse many Christians and Christian groups of being antisemitic(When they obviously aren't) when they are the bigots. You don't fight antisemitism by being anti-Christian.
A little off subject, but does anyone know what order the Pope took his vows with? Benedictine?
Too bad Foxman didn't recall here that he was sheltered---and saved from certain death by Catholics-----and actually was a practicing Catholic. Foxman apparently now resents it. In later years, he has spoken critically about the family who sheltered him.
EXCERPT
Abraham H. Foxman's Story: A Life Saved, A Life of Service
Part I: A Life Saved
I was born in 1940, in Baranowicz, Poland. My parents tried to stay ahead of the Germans and so we headed east. The Germans caught up with us in the Lithuanian city of Vilnius in 1941. For my parents, there was nowhere to run.
My nanny, Bronislawa Kurpi was Polish-Catholic and when the order came for Jews to be assembled into the Ghetto, she asked my parents what was to become of me. My mother answered that what was going to happen to them would happen to me. My nanny hastily offered to take me from them, to keep me safe until their return. As my mother recalled, it was a cold autumn day when Ms. Kurpi walked away with me. My mother recalled looking on sorrowfully with my father through the edges of the curtains, not knowing what was to become of me. It was a decision which was incredibly difficult. I guess they never really believed that it was going to be four years before they would see me again. Imagine the confusion and pain this experience inflicted on all involved.
Growing-up for the next four years in German-occupied Vilnius, Lithuania, I was called Henryk Stanislas Kurpi. To the world, Bronislawa Kurpi was my mother. She had me baptized by a priest and raised me as a Catholic. I learned how to pray with a rosary and kneel at the altar of the church. I could not play with other children, as it was too risky. There was always the possibility that someone would see that I was circumcised and discover my Jewish identity. Had my parents died during the Holocaust, it is a possibility that I may have even become a priest when I grew up.
Miraculously, my parents survived the Holocaust. Their first thought was to come and get me, their only child, back. My nanny did not see eye to eye with my parents. She did not want to give me back. There were several custody battles between my parents and my nanny, with my parents winning out in the end. That's when they decided they had no future in Lithuania, which also happened to be under the control of the Soviet Union.
To leave the Soviet Union and the surrounding satellite countries where its influence was felt, was not an easy task, however. We were smuggled across the borders until we got to the American Zone in Austria. At this time, we lived in a Displaced Persons (DP) camp, where I was able to play with children my own age for the first time in my life. Eventually, my family and I were granted visas to the United States, where we moved in 1950. I was 10 years old, and my father always said that in that time, I had lived a lifetime.
After being reunited with my parents, I had to learn how to be Jewish, which was a growing process. One thing I remember is making the sign of the cross in the home of my parents, who were observant Jews. Even once I was reunited with my parents, I was a good practicing Catholic. As a child, I went to church, I said my prayers and I wore a crucifix. I cried when other children called me a Jew. Christianity was my means of survival and it is because of this that I have always had great respect for it.