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
> 
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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