Well, from what I understand, he was the chief architect of the Church's
policy towards the Jews during the papacy of John Paul II.

For example, an article in jewish.com writes that he was
"the architect of the policy that Pope John Paul II fulfilled with regard
to relations with the Jews. He is the architect of the ideological policy
to recognize, to have full relations with Israel."

(you can find the article on
http://jewish.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid 07).

The article also relates some of Cardinal Ratzinger's own memoirs on his
tenure in Hitler Youth.

Personally, I think that while we cannot know what really happened then,
there appears to be ample reason to give him the benefit of the doubt.

Eugene

On Thu, 28 Apr 2005, Andrew Reeves wrote:

> Of course it crossed my mind, too, that one could make a public issue of
> this and at least write a "Letter to to the Editor" to Newsweek. Thus
> far, I have not done that but my decision is not final. I would be
> interested in hearing more comments from the "improvetheworld" crowd
> especially Catholics. As for "derailing" the Pope--no chance of that; I
> don't even see how one could get to the point of questioning him on
> this. Anyhow, as you can remember from my former e-mail to this site it
> is my opinion that a bad pope is what the world presently needs.
> --Grandpa Andrew
>
> Martin Reeves wrote:
> >
> > 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
> >
> > www.cbtcompanies.com
> >
> > Direct:	  (309) 495-1741
> > Toll Free:	(800) 747-6500
> > Cell:	   (309) 453-2007
> > Fax:	  (309) 676-6068
> >
> > Email     mreeves Æ cbtmail.com
> >
> >  -----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
>
>
>