"Evil when we are in its power is not felt as evil but as a necessity, or even a duty." Simone Weil
It's Passover. Easter. Holocaust Remembrance Month. A time to celebrate, commemorate, honor. And for some, also a time to bury memories of dishonor.
When Joseph Ratzinger became Pope Benedict XVI, people asked what I thought about a German Pope. First I said, Nothing. He has little impact on me or my life ... I'm Jewish.
Well, wait a minute. There's the Hitler Youth thing.
We shouldn't hold that against him, the Vatican said. He was a teenager, too young to form opinions.
Do you know any teenager who doesn't have opinions?
Nazi Germany's Teens
Historians tell us many young people at the time had no choice during Hitler's sweeping "reform movement" -- they were forced to join the Hitler Youth or be branded as unpatriotic, and worse, 'Jew-loving.'
Lots of teenagers were caught up in the national fervor, swept along by the marching and the uniforms and the excitement. They loved the parades.
What, they didn't hear the vicious, hate-filled rhetoric? See the beatings and lootings and mob violence against "inferiors" played out with abandon in public? Notice the segregation and degradation of Jews and other "inferior beings?"
Naa. They were just having fun playing soldier. Right.
We're told that the German mind set is different, focused on universal national conformity. So that means in Nazi Germany, teens, including Joseph Ratzinger were ...wait for it... just following orders.
Hang on. When was the last time you met a teen who followed orders?
The teenage psyche is geared to discover individuality at least in part through conflict. Especially against authority.
A conundrum for sure. Think about this too: our own teenage years provided the most vivid memories of our lives. Those were the formative experiences and feelings that shaped the adults we became.
Just as we were touched by an inspirational teacher, a stirring speech, a national tragedy, the initial devotion to an idea or a cause, many of us were scarred by bad parents, cruel coaches, "mean girls" and, worst of all, for far too many, pedophile priests. (We'll get to that next).
We were also profoundly affected by the major historic events of the times in which we came of age. As were our parents, grandparents, every generation before and since.
German teens in the 1930's and 40's may have appeared as perfect little automatons goose-stepping in unison to the Party Line. But they were also individual human beings with the ability to think, and the passionate emotions unique to their age group.
There's no way they escaped the streams of hatred, the stench of evil, the vile presence of persecution that pervaded their daily lives -- possibly their homes too.
It must have had an impact on their impressionable minds and hearts.
Whether through rebellion or conformity, all teenagers absorb and mimic adult attitudes and behavior. When Joseph Ratzinger became an adult, he was drafted into the German Army, served in an antiaircraft unit.
Joseph Ratzinger, Nazi or Hypocrite?
So what truly motivated Joseph Ratzinger as a Hitler Youth and as a German soldier fighting the allies -- necessary conformity or ugly zeal?
Father Ratzinger claimed he loathed the Nazi doctrine, that it turned him toward the moral theology of the Catholic Church. Could be true. Ironically, our best hope is that fundamentalist Catholic dogma ultimately prevailed.
We know that some German teens rebelled against Nazi violence and its corrupt teachings by helping their persecuted friends and neighbors.
Why not Ratzinger? And if he did help, why not say so now?
Why not indeed. He can't even bring himself to unequivocally condemn the Nazi movement, his country's complicity and his own small part in it, however supposedly coerced. He won't even publicly condemn the Holocaust.
Hello? Catholics were murdered too. You'd think that would help him step up.
But when he visited Israel last year and stepped onto the sacred ground of Yad Vashem, Israel's Holocaust memorial, Pope Benedict XVI hedged.
Think about that: the Pope Hedged on the Holocaust.
Yad Vashem, by the way, commemorates ALL who were killed by the Nazis -- Jews, Catholics, Poles, Russians, Gays, Blacks, the Disabled and Mentally Ill. It also celebrates the many 'Righteous Gentiles' who helped save Jewish and other lives.
If the pope was truly outraged by the Nazis' murderous intent and the full horror of the Holocaust, why not say so, in that holy place, in the strongest possible terms?
The Vatican claims he's mentioned it before, why repeat himself. Are they insane??? It should be repeated every time he or any world leader goes to Israel claiming to support peace.
Never Again is a pledge by all Jews to remember the Holocaust so it will never be repeated. It must be an International Shibboleth ... all genocide anywhere in the world is wrong.
The Denier Priests
But wait, there's more. Why did the pope reverse the excommunication of priests known to be Holocaust deniers? The Vatican claims he didn't know.
Whoa. Excommunication is the harshest punishment in Catholicism. The process to reverse excommunication is huge.
No way the pope wasn't in the loop. But hey, the priests just denied that millions were killed in the Holocaust --they claimed it was only a couple hundred thousand Jews-- and finally apologized. So Pope Benedict's okay with that.
It's preposterous. Oh wait, maybe not.
"[I]t is impossible to carry out a sincere dialogue with those who have contempt for any actions on the part of their opponents other than abject surrender." Marvin Folkertsma, Ph.D.
The pope doesn't want to anger the Palestinians again. He's been there before, in 2006. If he acknowledges his country's participation in the Holocaust, if he embraces the concepts of culpability, responsibility and penance in the name of seeking peace ... uh oh.
He can't risk alienating governments and a major populace which espouses a modern day version of the very same thing.
Why not? German Chancellor Angela Merkel takes responsibility. So does the German Parliament. Perhaps they have more faith in mankind. And, well, most of them weren't even born until after the Holocaust.
Peace in the Middle East?
It's axiomatic: verbally attack Jews and our leaders demand reason and redress and justice. Verbally attack Palestinians and immediately their radical leaders call for violence and death and destruction.
So last year during a visit to 'support Peace in the Middle East,' the pope avoided direct reference to the Holocaust, even avoided using the words Nazi or German. Didn't include any reference to his own supposed opposition to the Nazis.
He went to the Western Wall, Judaism's holiest shrine. And to the Dome of the Rock, the holy shrine where Muslims believe the Prophet Muhammad rose to heaven. He walked the Via Dolorosa.
He went to Bethlehem. Then Nazareth. Both cities controlled by Palestinians now. If you're Israeli, or a Jew of any nationality, you can't go there any more.
Fortunately, I've already been to those holy places many times. They've been there for thousands of years. So have millions of people, many suffering and dying to forge a future for their own.
Religion or Expediency?
Today of all days, millions remember that Ancient Rome turned its back on a people, and crucified one they considered most dangerous, to send a message that Jews must never rebel, that only conformity would be tolerated.
We should all remember too that Nazi-collaborating Rome and the Vatican turned their backs thousands of years later on Catholics and Jews and others numbering into the millions during the Holocaust.
The 21st Century is proving no different. Pope Benedict and the Vatican, with their secular focus on PR and damage control, are turning their backs on people, giving passive approval for (in addition to pedophile priests) more anti-Semitism and chaos.
They are making sure there is less chance than ever to bring peace to the Middle East.
It's beyond ironic that today of all days, this weekend of all weekends, Pope Benedict and the Vatican continue to ignore the very lessons of forgiveness and tolerance and love that are supposed to be the foundations of their faith.
Bitte, Pope Benedict, S'cuzzi, Vaticani... it's time to step up.
Happy Passover, Chavarim. Happy Easter, Friends. Please, let's all remember, for posterity, Never Again.
(full disclosure: slightly repurposed, but the names are the same)
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Max Rivlin-Nadler
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Comments
JP-II was FAR superior to Palpadict. And given JP-II's obvious and significant shortcomings, that's saying a lot.
And Nixon had to resign to avoid impeachment.
What he did or didn't do for the Nazi's doesn't matter. It's his present day actions defending and covering up the defense of pederasts along with all the other failings of the church that should put him in jail.
What he did or didn't do for the Nazi's doesn't matter. It's his present day actions defending and covering up the defense of pederasts along with all the other failings of the church that should put him in jail.
Never Again
פסח שמח
Happy Passover
Rated. (Sorry for the small font there, Sally).
Those of us who are old enough to either be the children of, or have known the survivors of the Holocaust, we all know that there should never be any excuses made and any opportunity to stand up for exposing crime to the light of day should still be taken. The memories of those who died and suffered live on in those of us who remember today. Ratzinger was there and as a religious leader he has no excuse.
On another note, as a survivor of sexual abuse, there is little that can make me angrier that the failure of those in power to protect children. I cannot imagine the crisis of faith that Catholics must be experiencing right now.
Ablonde, you and me both.
motherwell, the truth is very damning, and their efforts to hide it are so half-hearted it's clear they're not all that bothered by it. Which bothers me.
Anne, thank you. We can all pray together, but the pope, unfortunately, seems to prefer that we not. Sad.
Lea, it took me 3 pages to say what you said in 3 sentences. As usual.
Cindy, you make good points. Unfortunately someone with this kind of past is too arrogant to think amends are necessary. So much lying, so many cover-ups. Lea's right. Oh, but thank you for introducing me to Penn & Teller's Bullshit!
David, I have no idea how you got to that place. Can someone explain what David is talking about?
Poppi, so do I.
cobalt, yes he should be held to a higher standard. And the reason his past matters is that he's bringing those attitudes into his role as pope... not good at all, for anybody. As you noted, he hides and defends evil-doers rather than cast them out.
Bill, thank you (and the font looks perfect to me). I always love when you give me the mother tongue. Wait! Language, I meant language!
Cranky, I think so too. Bad for everybody.
Suzanne we are totally in sync on this. There's no equivocating on this... there's simply Right and Wrong. I sure have something to say about the abuse scandal, another post altogether.
Penrose, thank you. That's why we keep the memories alive.
There are certainly some interesting religious related posts aren't there. Monte's, Patricia K is busy defending the Holy Roman Church and lets just say the infidels are storming the casements. Monte has his series, Kathy R has her thing on the Via Delrosa after telling us that the people she accompanied refused to give a hand out to a person missing half their head because the person was "faking it." Here they are in flipping Jerusalem and they don't have it in them to be charitable, as Kathy said, "how do you fake missing half a head?"
I know this isn't meant to be funny, it's very serious, but even so when I read cobalt -ic's comment I had to laugh.
"The Pope should be held to a higher standard than everyone else. He's the Pope for fuck's sake."
When you screw around with peoples spiritual beliefs it is like a license to steal for these organized religion. Lets face it, dragging yourself to the stone quarry day in and day out, leading a perfectly miserable life will only work if you think that you'll get your reward eventually. Heaven, the ultimate pay off. Power corrupts and the ultimate power is power over your spiritual self, organized religions are the ultimate corruption.
For many of the Jewish friends I have had over the years their religion seems to me to be as much or more about their cultural identity as their religious identity. When they ate at their home they "kept Kosher" mostly. When they ate out at a restaurant they ate shrimp and lobster. Over the years many of them have stopped even the pretense of keeping a Kosher kitchen, though some still do.
Interesting post Sally, thanks, and Happy Passover.
Denese
(the adopted Jewish girl, raised Episcopalian and converted Catholic)
Happy Passover.
There was some damage control after this came out, but what a mindset.
Papal "Bull" indeed.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/03/world/europe/03church.html?8au&emc=au