# HAHA, the new pope was a member of the Hitler youth **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 19, 2005, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/haha-the-new-pope-was-a-member-of-the-hitler-youth/300152 "2005-04-19T23:31:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/haha-the-new-pope-was-a-member-of-the-hitler-youth/300152/1 "2005-04-19T23:31:49Z")
[http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20050419/en\_afp/vaticanpopegermany](http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20050419/en_afp/vaticanpopegermany) I’m sure he didn’t want to, but damn its entertaining to me. John Paul was hiding out and going to Seminary school and Benedict joined the Hitler youth. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/haha-the-new-pope-was-a-member-of-the-hitler-youth/300152/2 "2005-04-19T23:38:23Z")
It was mandatory by law. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/haha-the-new-pope-was-a-member-of-the-hitler-youth/300152/3 "2005-04-19T23:48:11Z")
John Paul was also 7 years older, as well as “racially inferior”. He wouldn’t have been able to join the HJ if he had wanted to. ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/haha-the-new-pope-was-a-member-of-the-hitler-youth/300152/4 "2005-04-19T23:59:54Z")
I can speak with assurance that being a member of the HJ doesn’t make one a bad person. One of my father’s business contacts is a veteran of that. (He was drafted for Korea, too. In bootcamp when inductees were asked for previous experience, he reluctantly admitted to his time fighting the Sovs. The DI’s reaction was IIRC to simply put him into one of the leadership roles, and that’s it. The impression my father’s friend had was that he was far from the first HJ in the US Army.) ---
**Author:** ![Jenaroph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/haha-the-new-pope-was-a-member-of-the-hitler-youth/300152/5 "2005-04-20T00:10:05Z")
Somehow, “HAHA” does not strike me as an appropriate way to preface the statement, “the new Pope was a member of the Hitler Youth.” Might just be me. ---
**Author:** ![askeptic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb9ed0/32.png) [@askeptic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/askeptic)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/haha-the-new-pope-was-a-member-of-the-hitler-youth/300152/6 "2005-04-20T00:23:17Z")
You know, I am not Catholic nor even religious I could care less who is made Pope, but this kind of drive by “Ha Ha…” is silly. Wesley you must have missed the part about Ratsinger deserting from the Army which he had been forced to join. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/haha-the-new-pope-was-a-member-of-the-hitler-youth/300152/7 "2005-04-20T00:33:08Z")
This ain’t the first time I’ve mentioned this today… I’m a Jew and I’ll give him a pass on it. So let’s just let it be, right? ---
**Author:** ![uglybeech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/82dd89/32.png) [@uglybeech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/uglybeech)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/haha-the-new-pope-was-a-member-of-the-hitler-youth/300152/8 "2005-04-20T00:51:22Z")
This OP is offensive on so many levels I hardly know where to start, so I won’t except to say 1) your understanding of the historical context leaves a lot (everything) to be desired and 2) ha ha? how about tee hee? Hopefully the thread will die. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/haha-the-new-pope-was-a-member-of-the-hitler-youth/300152/9 "2005-04-20T01:24:58Z")
> [@Liberal](#): > > It was mandatory by law. Was it? Maybe for boys. My old boss was from Bremen and she was the right age at that time period. One day I thought of this very question and blurted out, " Hey, Polly, how come you weren’t an Hitler Jungen?" She looked thoughtful for a moment and said, " I didn’t want to join…I look terrible in brown." Classic Polly-ism. ---
**Author:** ![Casey1505](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/haha-the-new-pope-was-a-member-of-the-hitler-youth/300152/10 "2005-04-20T01:38:57Z")
He was forced to do something against his will when he was 14 years old. Sixty four years ago. And even if he willingly joined, he was 14 years old. Surely attitudes don’t change over the course if 64 years. HAHA, indeed. That’s comedy gold right there. Gold, Jerry. Gold! :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![SkipMagic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skipmagic/32/20706_2.png) [@SkipMagic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkipMagic)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/haha-the-new-pope-was-a-member-of-the-hitler-youth/300152/11 "2005-04-20T01:43:31Z")
This is more appropriate for the **Pit**. I’ll have it enlisted there for you. - SkipMagic ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/haha-the-new-pope-was-a-member-of-the-hitler-youth/300152/12 "2005-04-20T01:56:52Z")
While I certainly don’t think that either hilarious mockery or ooh-he-must-be-a-nazi are the proper response, I also don’t think that it’s UTTERLY irrelevant, for two reasons: (a) even when something is a law, you always have a choice. You can resist, even if it means dying. Some things are worth dying to resist. Granted, the vast majority of people are not Oskar Schindler (heck, even Oskar Schindler probably wasn’t Oskar Schindler, if you know what I mean). But I think that everyone who lived in Nazi Germany and was even approaching adulthood and did NOT resists in some way is, in at least a very small way, culpable. All that is necessary for tyranny to triumph is for good men to do nothing, and all that. (b) There’s also the fact of what message this sends. Either the church itself or Ratzi might have decided “we know that we have taken justifiable criticism in our past for our complacency during the nazi era. Due to that, we deliberately choose not to elect this man as pope because even a slight appearance of nazi sympathy is too much of an appearance for us”. I’m not saying this is particularly FAIR, but I’m also not saying it’s irrelevant. I’m not trying to say that the church should positively not have picked Ratzi because of this. I’m just saying that I don’t think it is, or should be, 100% a non-issue, either in what it says about him, or in what it says about the church. ---
**Author:** ![Andros\_X](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/49beb7/32.png) [@Andros\_X](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andros_X)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/haha-the-new-pope-was-a-member-of-the-hitler-youth/300152/13 "2005-04-20T01:58:19Z")
According to [this](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Benedict_XVI) Wikipedia article, Ratzinger refused to go to meetings. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/haha-the-new-pope-was-a-member-of-the-hitler-youth/300152/14 "2005-04-20T02:00:05Z")
You know, **Wesley** , I’m no fan of organized religion. But this is a non-issue. Every kid that age in Germany at that time either joined or got himself and probably his family shot or sent to the Russian front. And the jokes about him issuing his first edicts based on Nazism aren’t funny, either. The Polish jokes they told about J2P2 at the beginning of his tenure were much classier material. You want to bitch they new guy out, wait until he steps in something in his own right. Don’t start ragging on his ass before he even has a chance to get the lining on the inside of The Funny Hat warm. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/haha-the-new-pope-was-a-member-of-the-hitler-youth/300152/15 "2005-04-20T02:03:15Z")
I never said he enjoyed it or believed any of it, but he was a member of the Hitler Youth and that is not going to come across well. > **[Ratzinger is frontrunner as cardinals start election of pope](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2005/apr/18/catholicism.religion2)** > > Weeks of feverish speculation and intrigue in Rome will enter their final phase tomorrow when 115 cardinals begin to elect a new pope in the most exclusive and secret ballot in the world. Cardinal Ratzinger has been ordered to appear in a court in Texas over a sex abuse scandal. He was named in a suit brought on behalf of three men now in their 20s who claim they were sexually abused as children. The cardinal is accused of obstruction of justice in relation to a Vatican document that emerged in 2003 instructing Catholic bishops to deal with cases of sexual abuse “in the most secretive way”. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/haha-the-new-pope-was-a-member-of-the-hitler-youth/300152/16 "2005-04-20T02:05:13Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > You know, **Wesley** , I’m no fan of organized religion. But this is a non-issue. Every kid that age in Germany at that time either joined or got himself and probably his family shot or sent to the Russian front. > > And the jokes about him issuing his first edicts based on Nazism aren’t funny, either. The Polish jokes they told about J2P2 at the beginning of his tenure were much classier material. > > You want to bitch they new guy out, wait until he steps in something in his own right. Don’t start ragging on his ass before he even has a chance to get the lining on the inside of The Funny Hat warm. Takes a real high caliber human being to intentionally spend time in a message board devoted to hate and complaining so Im probably just going to drop out of this thread. Yeah I can be insensitive, I already know that & it doesn’t bother me any. ---
**Author:** ![kellner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c2a13f/32.png) [@kellner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kellner)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/haha-the-new-pope-was-a-member-of-the-hitler-youth/300152/17 "2005-04-20T02:08:59Z")
> [@Shirley Ujest](#): > > Was it? Maybe for boys. From 1939 on, it was mandatory for girls, too. Their branch was called the “Bund Deutscher Mädel (BDM)” - “Federation of German Girls”. Perhaps she wasn’t precisely the right age. Children were also ineligible if they did not meet certain standards of moral, race and honor (as defined by the BDM of course.) They could also be exempt for medical reasons if they got a certificate from a Hitler Youth physician. The law also allowed exeptions in individual cases for unspecified “important reasons”, again at the discretion of the Hitler Youth. ---
**Author:** ![ur8it](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecd19e/32.png) [@ur8it](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ur8it)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/haha-the-new-pope-was-a-member-of-the-hitler-youth/300152/18 "2005-04-20T02:09:41Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > … Every kid that age in Germany at that time either joined …" ACTUALLY, it was COMPULSORY. ---
**Author:** ![Nic2004](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/4491bb/32.png) [@Nic2004](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nic2004)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/haha-the-new-pope-was-a-member-of-the-hitler-youth/300152/19 "2005-04-20T02:15:43Z")
> [@Wesley Clark](#): > > I never said he enjoyed it or believed any of it, but he was a member of the Hitler Youth and that is not going to come across well. > > [http://www.guardian.co.uk/pope/story/0,12272,1462205,00.html](http://www.guardian.co.uk/pope/story/0,12272,1462205,00.html) > > Cardinal Ratzinger has been ordered to appear in a court in Texas over a sex abuse scandal. He was named in a suit brought on behalf of three men now in their 20s who claim they were sexually abused as children. The cardinal is accused of obstruction of justice in relation to a Vatican document that emerged in 2003 instructing Catholic bishops to deal with cases of sexual abuse “in the most secretive way”. That is interesting. Is there another source you know of besides the Guardian? Is that one of the National Enquirer type rags in the UK? Thanks for the insight either way. ---
**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/haha-the-new-pope-was-a-member-of-the-hitler-youth/300152/20 "2005-04-20T02:15:43Z")
> [@Wesley Clark](#): > > Takes a real high caliber human being to intentionally spend time in a message board devoted to hate and complaining so Im probably just going to drop out of this thread. Yeah I can be insensitive, I already know that & it doesn’t bother me any. This just needs no further commentary. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/haha-the-new-pope-was-a-member-of-the-hitler-youth/300152.md?page=2)