It would be interesting to hear Ratzinger own memories of his time on the
South-east Wall.  I would construe any reluctance on his part to talk about
it or vague answers to questions with a lot of 'I don't recall' in his
answers to mean he was NOT an innocent bystander.  Even if he was an
innocent bystander, a truly righteous person should have extensively
reported on the abuses he witnessed!  Does that or any article say he did at
least that?  Is it possible that this story could escalate and 'derail' the
new Pope and the Catholic Church?



Martin Reeves

CBT Companies Inc.
Peoria and Moline, IL

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 -----Original Message-----
From:	Andrew Reeves [mailto:andrew.reeves Æ wayne.edu]
Sent:	Wednesday, April 27, 2005 6:42 PM
To:	improvetheworld Æ umich.edu
Subject:	Pope Benendict XVI

NEWSWEEK magazine, current issue, contains a story on the early life of
the new Pope and I quote from page 46 the following paragraph:

    "During the war, Ratzinger's firsthand experience with the
     German military were a boy's grim chronicles of helplessness
     and defeat. He had entered seminary at the age of 12, but was
     compelled to join the local Hitler Youth in 1941, when he was
     14. At 17, he was building earthworks and tank traps alongside
     Jewish forced laborers near the Austro-Hungarian border."

I was one of those Jewish forced laborers in the village of Fertorakos
from November 1944 until March 1945 (for details, see Chapter 5 of my
autobiography, section entitled "Slave Labor on the South-East Wall")
and I can assure you with absolute certainty that no Gentile persons of
any sort were "working alongside" us. The very idea would have appeared
preposterous; we were treated and housed worse than animals. There were
uniformed young kids among our SUPERVISORS, and I can tell you that
typically they were just as cruel, hateful, and meanspirited as their
elders--sometimes more so. Of course, there were some exceptions too,
and once I even got a cupful of extra food from one of them. In any
case, misrepresenting this experience as "working alongside" us is an
outrageous insult which is not what one would expect from the POPE!!!

Danny's Grandpa Andrew