Were this in the hands of today's cancel culture, they would have dropped all mentions of the conscientious objections of Ratzinger, and focused on membership in the Hitler Youth.
Mark is a rarity these days: a historian who does diligent research, presents the evidence in an unbiased way, and draws any conclusions only from that evidence.
@@DaveSCameron Wrong. The history of famous people are always more than a footnote without having to have an agenda. As a matter of fact, sometimes the 'agenda' is on the other side. For example, people could disparage Benedict XVI for being a "Nazi" because of his service in the German armed forces. But was he really a "Nazi", or just a young man who was conscripted as were so many others, regardless of his personal beliefs? This video just showed the truth, a truth which was of interest to MSB Hicks. So why should you accuse him of having an agenda unless you have one of your own? BTW, not only am I not Catholic, I am an atheist, so I am not defending Hicks on religious grounds, just on his right to have an interest in a part of history which you do not share.
Perhaps the most relevant aspect of Ratzinger's life is his sexual orientation. Much like JE Hoover, whose sexual orientation explains much of his homophobia and the great harm he caused, Ratzinger's opposition to gay rights was very likely rooted in the same cause.
Dr Felton, as a catholic and WW2 enthusiast I greatly appreciate your thorough and respectful approach to his holiness, Pope emeritus Benedict the XVI and his time in the hitler youth . You are factual and stick to the truth in all your videos. Your series is the gold standard for WW2 docuseries, bar none. Your voice, coupled with your delivery is reminiscent of an early 90s documentary makes this a nostalgic treat every-time you upload.
Sadly false ideas such as openness to immorality, praying to Mary, purgatory and etc have quickly returned to the Roman Catholic Church. I tell you that most if not all of the popes have been against the one they claim to serve for almost its entirety.
I met him once at a shrine that had Latin inscriptions. Seeing he was a priest, I asked him what the inscription said. He appeared to not know what I said, but turned to a much younger priest who was with him, and said something to him. The young priest translated for us. I thanked him, and I did not know who he was. Later, I learned his name, and then, much later he became Pope. I don't think he spoke English, which was why he had a rather blank look when I asked him to translate. Being Catholic, it felt strange that I had met the future Pope.
He's just a religious celebrity. I get it, if you're into physics, meeting a nasa department director is quite something, but if that highest profile cientist was part of a pedophile cover up, I don't think any physics fans would retain the same level of celebrity adoration as you guys are showing here.
My father born 1927 was a flak Helfer from 1943 on. This was normal and every male from the age of 15 was drafted into this service. There are many parallels to my fathers story in this documentary. Most of these boys were in central positions of German society from the 1960 on and there time as flak Helfer was a bonding moment. I would like to thank mr Felton for this work as it completely is in line with my knowledge of this subject.
There's a book named _"Die Flakhelfer: Wie aus Hitlers jüngsten Parteimitgliedern Deutschlands führende Demokraten wurden"_ It's about how _"Hitler's youngest party members became Germany's leading democrats"._ I don't think it's available in English. Many men you wouldn't have believed, were members of the NSDAP like Genscher, Walser, Lenz or Dieter Hildebrandt. Their membership was revealed in the mid 00's, if I remember correctly. When these old files were rediscovered, many of these men denied joining the party. They said that they didn't knew about their membership and that they didn't actively filed for it. This is heavily debated to this day. Their explanation is that they somehow automatically joined the party after being in the Hitler youth.
Normal eh? Does history bear the record of any who refused? Patriotism is normal but if the leader of your nation is ruthlessly invading other countries and murdering millions of your own fellow citizens, is it "normal"?
@Ulrich Zech Here we are 77 years after the end of the Second World War. What is the attitude of the average German today towards the US 🇺🇸 bases that are still in (Western) Germany 🇩🇪? (Frankfurt, Grafenwohr, Landstuhl, Wiesbaden, etc.) So many young people in Western Europe seem have a negative attitude towards Americans, so I thought I'd ask you. You can respond if like. Have a nice day. 😀
@john USA This is in fact a not to easy subject today. But let’s start with my father. During his time as flak Helfer he loved us music, benny goodman, glen miller, artie shaw… etc. This was his music and the music of his Generation. When he married my mother the people in my mothers village ask why she is marring an American. They were very influenced by the usa. And this was for the German us relations a most positive time. But America lost over the time a lot of its positive guidance with e.g. the second irak war. Not to forget that the us gov tried to blame Germany over false intelligence about chemical weapons. And then there is the discussion of Germany military spending. Here it is forgotten that all us bases in Germany are paid by the German state. And then there are a lot of political points going on in the us which fears us, like the inability to change (which could lead to a civil war) the extreme polarisation in politics. The poor choices given to Americans by the two parties. Or the 6 of January riots which was the biggest violation of democracy in American history in centuries. I myself studied for a short time in the usa which was a great experience. I married my wife in Las Vegas. So the USA has a big place in my hart. But sometimes I am just sitting at home and I am shaking my head if some news hit the headlines. But what does the USA expect. The us is the most powerful country on this planet. So by definition it is the biggest bully around. Do you love him or fear him. You will try to be on the right side. And sometimes if you hear comments from our side of the Atlantic think of them (if possible) as helpful advice based on the wish to make the USA a better place because we believe you deserve it.
Other channels that have helped me with my love for history and technology: Technology Connections (General technology explanations with some historical context given) LGR (vintage technology, PCs, and video games) Ahoy (Video game history pieces)
My father was a Luftwaffenhelfer near Oldenburg at the age of 16 in 1943. He watched as his schoolmates gun emplacement disappeared during bombing. His father, who had a dueling scar, was a German officer in WW1 and WW11. My father later fought in The Battle of the Bulge and wrote a memoir. As an old man, he said, "only people who have never been in a war, think it's an adventure".
You guys are idolaters (Götzendiener) You kiss statues and relics. You dress your pope in gold and silk, bowing to him like he is god. Richest organisation in the world, but not really helping anyone. And not to talk about the pedo scandals in the church. Catholicism is weird.
I was at the open-air Mass celebrated by Pope Benedict in Birmingham during his visit to the UK. He opened the Mass by announcing that it was a very special day, Battle of Britain Sunday, and that a very great debt was owed to Great Britain for fighting that battle, which he described as the first glimmer of light which broke the great darkness which had descended over his country, and most of Europe.
@@christopherjames7477 Well, as one single person you may have own opinion but you need to be with the mass. One good example that can show it is "the man in the high castle". Or if we look at the Vietnam war, was it the war to make Vietnam to be united and free or was just to install communist dictatorship with the help of Russia? Or to look closer to Cuba, ii it "free from imperialism" or just dictatorship without basic rights?
Dr. Felton, thank you for this video and the way you set the historical record straight. You are the most honest chronicler of WWll. Glad to see this was not a hit piece.
He is very fair, and very objective. What I do object to is the notion that everybody did it because it was required. Some people hid in the woods and fought the Nazis instead of joining the Hitler youth. They gave their lives in opposition.
@@squaaaaak3178 Many summer family holidays were in the Black Forest as a child in the 80s and 90s and we would meet families who’s grandfathers had done just that - hidden out in the forests, dodging drafting patrols. Their families didn’t want their young children killed off, and / or their remaining male children ‘also’ killed. In the area seemingly no judgement for this route at that late stage, 1945. In the Yugoslavia wars in the 90s they were doing the same, using kids at combatants or second line support labour. So let’s not all go thinking Europe has improved that much. In Afghanistan we all took for granted youngsters were doing work we’d never permit European kids to do (military support work). Any way … child labour is a problem not going away anytime soon in other parts of the world in the 21st century.
Speaking about pope-related WW2 stories, I recommend looking up the interesting life of Jerzy Kluger - the Jewish childhood friend of one Karol "Lolek" Wojtyła and later a soldier of the 2nd Polish Corps, who ended up living in Rome after the war and eventually reuniting with his friend. Except by then that friend was better known as Pope John Paul II.
@@DaveSCameron I'm not familiar with that program. I'm from Poland and honestly can't remember where I've first heard about this story, probably somewhere on the TV (I think I saw at least two documentaries on different channels). BTW there's a quite long interview in English with Mr Kluger uploaded to the UA-cam channel of the USC Shoah Foundation.
Excellent video! I did not know about the fate of Ratzinger's cousin. The generation of adolescent Germans who were just below regular military age in the final years of WWII is known in Germany as “Flakhelfer-Generation” (flakhelper generation).
I wonder what they thought. Some were probably depressed because they were too young to be a soldier in the war, some were probably glad their birth date was likely the reason they survived. Feel a bit of both.
@@michaelsamuel9917 do tell how hes helped humanity. Im curious. Hes spoken against walls, as he himself hides behind one. Spoken against weapons, as the basement of the vatican is a literal armory. Id call that a hypocrite, myself.
I remember the newspapers here in Australia making a big deal over Pope Benedict being in the Hitler youth. I remember seeing a Cartoon drawing of Pope Benedict in a Tiger tank with SS markings giving a Nazi salute. Because you were force to fight for the Nazis don’t mean your a Nazi. It’s good hear the true story of the boy that became the Pope
It was no different in the UK, they ran what amounted to a hate campaign against him, and his 'retirement' was seen as just reward for their efforts. Thank you Mark, for reminding those of us who are lucky enough to live in democracies about who we can rely on when it comes to the truth.
@@nicktecky55 The press in the UK is something to behold, though. When I lived, there, the Tabloids made or broke people. I guess it hasn't changed much, only maybe the news moves more quickly due to the rapid response of the online media?
My old man was born in 1927 as well, except it was in England. He was conscripted just like the Pope. There really was no choice. You had to serve your country.
And mine was from 26'. even being illiterate, he still had to serve in the Brazilian army from 44 - onwards. A country that, though involved, was half a world away from the fight. What was the young Joseph Ratzinger supposed to do, but to comply?
My great grandfather fought in the Greek Army during the war, we have a big hand coloured photograph of him and his brother in their army uniforms hanging in my grandparents’ house.
Great! So was your dad a religious leader after the war? I understand that Ratzinger had no choice and had to be in the Hitler Jugend and in the army (although, I guess the members of the White Rose , and many were Catholic, thought that they did have a choice). So yes, he was an ordinary German. However, maybe the leader of the largest and the most powerful christian church should not have been ordinary.
I remember when I was a kid, around 6 or 7, when Pope John Paul II died. I don’t remember a lot because I was young, but I do remember seeing the Vatican at night when they showed it live. I come from a Catholic family and I’m Catholic myself. I remember my family was shocked and a little saddened when John Paul II died because my parents spent most of their lives with him in the Papacy. Obviously, Benedict was elected as Pope shortly after and I spent a great deal of my childhood during his term. I went to Catholic schools most of my life and I went to a Catholic High School. I didn’t learn that Benedict was in the Wehrmacht until I was in High School when my friends were talking about it and showed me the picture of Benedict in the Luftwaffe uniform. I was shocked at first, but then as a World War II buff, I remembered that all boys at the age of 10 had to be in the Hitler Youth, and many later had no choice but to serve with in the Wehrmacht or Waffen SS, and that’s what Benedict had to do. I’m just glad that they didn’t ding him for that when they were in the Papal discussions, because he had no choice.
I can remember US anti Communist nuttters calling Pope John Paul II a "Communist" Pope just because he came from Poland which was behind the Iron curtain, these fools didn't even realize that the Church in Poland was independent of the Communist state and was very suppressed, hence the attempt on his life most likely by the KGB using a "Patsy" Muslim Turk.
I don’t understand this discussion. Not only he had no choice but it was his duty. At the end of the war the germans were using children and old people. It is a bit like being the pope . It was not his choice and he made his duty . At the end he « deserted » when he could.
@@marktrain9498 That is easy to say but we where not there, as far as I can see the only “crime” you could call him on is not getting himself killed trying to stop the slave labor he saw, something that would have been extremely difficult as being a Catholic the Neopagan SS officers would have considered him unreliable, that’s why he was discriminated against on the eastern front, in fact I remember a story about Pope John Paul II from WW2 I heard when he died, as a young Polish man he did not have the same protections his later German colleague did, The only thing that prevented him from going to a concentration camp as a suspected catholic seminary student was that he had a work card from a mine in his back pocket, I really don’t see any reason for The future pope Benedict to martyr himself for the Catholic Church, maybe he could’ve done more maybe not we will probably never know but based only on this video it seems to me that as a non-catholic Christian all I can say is I disagree with him on matters of theology but I don’t see that he did anything wrong during World War II.
Another interesting note. Pope John Paul II Karol Wojtyla who suffered under the Nazi's . Was very much aware of Ratzinger involvement in the war. Not only did John Paul II did not have bitterness towards Ratzinger. He appointed him the to office "Doctrine of faith" but retired in 1982. But Pope John Paul II kept him to do various assignments in the Vatican. John Paul II knew very well that by keeping Ratzinger close, he put him in high contention to be the next Pope. Of course that did happen. So while technically they were enemies as young men during the war. They held no bitterness to each other after the war. And JPII knew Ratzinger was forced into duty by the Nazi's.
@@WojciechP915 No it is the worst explanation. And shows your childish temper tantrum towards history. A totalitarian regime that mows down who countries. That dominated a whole continent for six years. Yet somehow you expect a boy to stand up to the Nazis ? I guess you expect a 12 year old boy to take down Russia Vladimir Putin ? Or a 14 year old boy to run for U.S. President ?
It's a shame that today's youth and then some don't understand that the world is full of Gray and not Black and White.. These days a comment at 10 years old can destroy your life at 30 years old.. One Nascar Driver lost his job a year or so ago not becsue anything he did but becsue his father made a rather tame comment before he was born.. A tame comment especially at the time is now reason to destroy his children when the Cancelors get a hold on it..
JP-2 had Parkinson's disease and barely knew what was what for most of his papacy. Doctrine of the Faith is about keeping the Church hierarchy in line, and to not fall to modern ideas, like maybe women are equal to men, or that Mary being a virgin was unlikely, or that maybe other faiths that believe in God might be basically ok. It is a descendent of the infamous Inquisition. Sounds like a good busy office to stick someone you don't actually like, but have forgotten quite why.
I have often wondered if you would one day produce a video about Pope Benedict XVI’s involvement in WWII. And I’m glad you have as I enjoyed this production immensely. Thank you Dr Felton.
A friend of my grandfathers was 15 when he was drafted in late 1944 as a Flak helfer, manning a quad 20mm flak in 1945. When I asked him about his war experience (me being 16 years old at that time) He mentioned to me how he and his friends made great effrots to shoot past the targets, wanting the war to end as soon as possible, missing them on purpose. The thought of killing another human being was terrifing and nothing he and his friends wanted to live with.
@@jerrodbutali3990 He was active in such a late stage of the war (last three months or so) that bombing raids on his home town where not a thing anymore. Also yes he would, he and his family have been social democrats.
As pope, he did help a lot of priests escape their human consequences for inappropriately touching children. A hider of groomers. His name is NOT in the Book-of-Life.
@@Lovebomb-pu7ji How is it well know that he protected pedos? He's the one that started cracking down on pedophilia in the Church, in some aspects, more than Pope Francis.
As mentioned in the video, his youth wasn't actually anything out of the ordinary for boys in that age-group. They all grew up under constant NS indoctrination and were later conscripted, no matter if the indoctrination had worked on them or not. Yet still, having served in WWII is often viewed as a stain on someone's CV in Germany - regardless of the fact that they barely had any chance to have it any other way. This holds true even more if the person in question later becomes a celebrity or holds any significant office. In the end, this results in noone wanting to discuss this issue and sweep it under the rugs as good as they can, or making up / exaggerating stories of how they resisted their service. But to be honest, I think noone in his or her early teens can seriously be expected to be a well-informed critical thinker after 12 years of propaganda, (next to) no access to outside information and only knowing the opressive government of the Nazis. So, did the pope shoot down any allied aircraft? The answer should be "what does it matter", because considering all the circumstances a 3rd-Reich-Teenager faced it wouldn't say anything about his or her character or personality anyway.
From what I can tell from limited snippets, the German army didn’t seem very religious. At least the younger soldiers. Perhaps this was because Nazis viewed Christianity as a competing philosophy. Rewarding to see that a German soldier preserved his faith and later lived such a noble life
The Nazi regime was religious movement. In Mein Kampf Hitler says " his work against the Jews is done in direct instruction of almighty god. The Catholic churches first political treaty was with the Third Reich. Gott Mit Uns was on every German belt buckle ( god on our side)
My wife's grandmother was a German teenager at that time. They were a Catholic family. Their parish priest was sent to a concentration camp before the war even started. No one found out what happened to him.
Nazis were secular paganists. They believed in the "will" alone, like Nietzsche did, and Hitler is on record bemoaning the fact Germans had been subject to a weak religion like Christianity rather than something with a more pronounced martial spirit like Islam. If you are curious, you can watch a lecture about Nietzsche by a modern ultra right-winger called Jonathan Bowden right here on youtube. It's interesting because it shows just how far from Christianity those people actually are.
@@hxrx9670 Hitler was at least, he only used Christianity to gain more followers. He viewed Christianity as a Jewish religion, and if they would have one the war the next target was the Catholics then Christianity itself.
My dad went to school in Melbourne, Australia in the 40's. He said a 13 year old boy started the school year with them in 1946. Six months earlier he'd been fighting in the battle of Berlin.
There is a town in my local area called Bad Aibling close to Rosenheim, which has a compound where he was kept as a prisoner of war. It used to be a US military base during the cold war before the americans sold it (currently no one knows what its used for), but before that it was a luftwaffe airfield, which was used as a pow camp after the war.
Mark, you are phenomenal. I have learned more from your channel that I have learned in my entire life reading history books. Simple thank you can not express my gratitude for your unbelievable and exceptional job. But please accept my gratitude.
And now he is living in permanent residence on Vatican soil as it's considered a state. Why? Why did they build him a permanent residence at the Vatican? Because, you sick, degenerate, who cannot apparently recognize evil when it's right smack in front of your face, he is guilty of allowing rampant acts of pedophilia to occur under his watchful eye, over and over again, covering up presumably to save the face of the Church. Well, that face is gone now, it is over, and regardless of what anyone believes, your soul is in serious jeopardy to have any respect for this "man." Repent. He also helped trigger the Balkan wars of the 1990s.
There was a movie made back in 1983 titled - The Scarlet and the Black - Based on J. P. Gallagher's book The Scarlet Pimpernel of the Vatican (published in 1967) which tells the story of Monsignor Hugh O'Flaherty, a real-life Irish Catholic priest who saved thousands of Jews and escaped Allied POWs in Rome. A video on that would be very interesting.
Aye, he and Archbishop Damaskinos of Greece. Damaskinos (who supervised most Greek Orthodox churches in Greece) had his priests fill out thousands of fake Christian baptism certificates for any Jew who wanted one. He also convinced the chief of the Athens police to help provide fake passports for Jews. He even wrote an open letter to the Nazi SS commander in Greece, signed by dozens of Greek intellectuals, demanding an end to deportations of Jews. The SS commander threatened to have him shot, to which Damaskinos replied “The prelates of the Greek Orthodox Church are hanged, not shot, please respect our traditions.” (He was referring to Turkish lynchings of Greek priests). For the open letter, he spent the rest of the war under house arrest. After the war he became Regent of Greece, and helped broker a truce between the communists and the anti-communists in Greece until the King returned from Egypt.
Really interesting. I admired him greatly as Pope Benedict. He is a deep thinker and a great writer and puts across his ideas in easy to understand writings.
I'd say that any view on his writings is mostly a matter of faith. In my eyes he was an intolerant fossil, with an ideology more suited to the 16th century, not the 21st. But, everyone is entitled to his own thoughts of course.
I just saw a program on the PTO. Dr. Felton was an expert commentor. He wrote a book on Japanese Gestopo. He contributions were of the highest caliber. This segment is a fascinating look at the retired pope. Excellent, thank you!
My sincere Thank You, to Dr. Felton for producing this truly excellent short documentary on the life of Pope Benedict. Pope Benedict was a man of God, but was caught in the middle of the nightmare that engulfed Germany. At no time did ever lose his faith in God, and in the Freedom of Humankind. His Holiness abhorred the Nazi regime and never, ever, supported it, but actually feared it. Again, my heartfelt Thank You to Dr. Felton for all the research he gathered and provided us with in this outstanding video.
Whenever I hear that Intro Music, I now do the 'Fascinating History (Office Chair) Dance', in anticipation of excellent, detailed, interesting content. This channel is a real gift. Thank you Dr. Felton, et. Al !
My Opa was born in 1933 in a small village. He remembered the mentally disabled children disappearing, and also seeing his catholic priest get executed because he was anti nazi. His Hitler youth uniform was burned and he managed to avoid joining Hitler youth as well
@@vk2ig my opa was a stern man to say the least. When he got older he was able to come to terms with everything but early on yeah it heavily affected his life
@@TawnyRain2332 My Omi (by marriage) was the only one of her siblings that really managed to move on from their experiences in the war. It's incredible that she could come to terms with what the Soviet soldiers did to her and her family.
My Grandfather once took me to a museum in his home town and showed me a picture of his 4th grade class. He then pointed to one after another and said told me what happened to each of them "shot, killed, abducted, raped and killed, ..." He was the only one in the photo who did not have to go to war because of an accident with farming equipment which maimed him at age 15. I am lucky to be alive. He lived in the border region with Czechoslovakia when the war ended. The border was readjusted in such a way that his village was just inside Czechoslovakia. Then the Czech army blew up their church and plowed the graveyard to keep the Germans from coming back to it. He also told me about the Czech headhunters that came during the night to abduct random and innocent people. I will never forget this day. My jolly grandfather told me so many sad stories with a very neutral demeanor... He said that when these things happen the sun shines just the same afterwards and that is what counts.
Czechoslovakia got away with way too many crimes and massacres against the Bohemian Germans once the war was over. I understand their way, but the ethnic cleansing of the eastern Germans remains the biggest act of it's kind in human history, and it's barely talked about (!)
"The sun shines just the same afterwards". And to me, that's the thing that's so hard to process sometimes. The sun can be shining in what would be a nice fine day, then terror and death descends on your life, and then afterwards the sun is shining in a nice fine day ... as if nothing had happened.
@@vk2ig Not as if nothing happened. I hope ! I would rather think the sun shines for us to have light to do good and carry on and keep, resume, or start being a good person. Some would say that's silly but fortunately only " some". Billions believe tomorrow is a new day and look ahead not behind and do good works for Humanity.
@@riograndedosulball248 Supposedly the RC Croats ( " Croatians" ) via the Utasche rounded up Orthodox to their churches and locked the doors and set the churches on fire. So in retaliation, 50 + years later, the Orthodox made their Catholic captures bite off the " male organ" of the guy standing next to them. Grandfathers. Grandsons. et al. Barbarism on both sides. No excuses. No excuses either for American Thug Culture. Self defense is one thing but disfiguring or killing somebody because of something yesterday or further and no immediate threat to your life is " Sick and Wrong", as the kids say.
Excellent research. I hadn't known that he was actually drafted in the the Wehrmacht. I have always despised the way people with various agendas have tried to smear Ratzinger as a "Nazi." They either don't know or intentionally ignore the tense relationship between Catholics and the regime; the facts of totalitarian compulsion (and in the latter days the conversion of every disobedience into capital treason); and, lastly, the conditions in 44-45 of living in a country that was bombed into near oblivion (50% of 80% of all German cities were totally destroyed and that meant the intended slaughter of civilians as state war-time policy).
Im skeptical about the supposed "Catholic" Hostility to National-Socialism? Northern Germany is mainly Protestant and Southern Germany including Austria is mainly Catholic. Southern Germany Bavaria is where National- Socialism emerged. It was massive in Austria too. Hitler was a Catholic so were most the top Nazi leaders. Catholicism itself had a lot of anti-Semitism in its teachings. Im a Catholic, and i recall in mid 1960s teachers saying a few things about Jews that would get them arrested these days. Fact is, overwhelming majority of Germans were behind National- Socialism by 1936, when it had brought about full employment and prosperity.
@@occidentadvocate.9759 The official version of Nazism was atheistic. Hitler despised Christianity as an offshoot of Judaism. The fact that Hitler and other leading Nazi figures came from Catholic backgrounds doesn't mean they had any sympathy for the Catholic church. The Nazis imprisoned and murdered thousands of Catholic clergy and faithful. Catholicism has traditionally been regarded with hostility and suspicion in northern Europe, i.e., northern Germany and Scandinavia, ever since the Reformation. The Nazis identified closely with northern European culture and traditions. Catholicism was seen as belonging to the decadent, romantic South and disliked for that reason, even beyond the general aversion the Nazi leadership felt toward Christianity as a religion that developed out of Judaism.
@@4FYTfa8EjYHNXjChe8xs7xmC5pNEtz not true. Nazism was secular, but they did appeal to Christianity, as it won them votes. Hitler courted the leadership of the various denominations. He appealed to Christian unity? He stated... "Whilst the Catholic and Protestant fight it out, the enemy of the Aryan race and all of Christendom, the Jew,, laughs up his sleave". He quoted from the Bible on many occasions. He once also stated... " i intend to finnish the work that Jesus Christ started". The notion of Nazism being anti Christian only came about after the war. Part of the Propaganda frenzy of anti nazi stories the conquerors put out, to justify their regime change.
@@marcusfieldfield4069 *shrieks loudly* I thought I recognized that his right arm looked more muscular than his left. Now I know why....plenty of regular exercise 🤔 🤣 🙋♂️
I agree. Benedict deserves criticism for willingly leading a global child abuse ring as an adult. Not his activities as a conscripted youth in wartime Germany.
You should do a video about Pope Pius XII aka Hitler's pope and just how true that nickname was. From what I've read, it seems that it's a myth and partially Soviet propaganda. Would love to hear your take on him! Great video!
Interesting topic. I have both books, "Hitler's Pope," and "The Myth of Hitler's Pope." They are in my piles of books somewhere, waiting to get on my reading list.
He was not Nazi's Pope. To prove that point consider what the chief rabbi of Rome did after the war: he converted to Catholicism and took the first name of Eugene which was the Pope's first name
So what? He served his country like millions did and do. He was 16 a child! He became a priest and served the church like millions became politicians, army officers, police officers and social servants. As a child/teenager I met Manfred Rommel twice when he was the city mayor of Stuttgart due to my dads involvement in politics. A great person I assume same Benedict.
Mark, my dad claimed to have been housed with Joseph Ratzinger during the demobilization of the German military in 1945. My dad was a Latvian in the Luftwaffe (he turned 17 in Aug 1944). His unit was policed up by the Americans in western Czech Republic. His unit was house in a local college dormitory with many men per room. My dad claimed that to pass the time, they learned the names of everyone on the floor and Joseph Ratzinger was in the adjacent room. My dad was convinced that it was THE Joseph because my dad remembered where Joseph grew up. I would love to know if this story has any possibility of being true.
Thank you, Mark. My father was Baptist and my mother Catholic. Thanks for not doing a hateful diatribe against Pope Benedict XVI. I am grateful he survived the hardcore Nazis. Being Catholic and not hardcore Nazi, he was most fortunate not to have been beaten and crippled or murdered. My Aunt Inga was German and would not talk about her family, let alone WW2. My mother's people came from the Tyrol and hated the Nazis and fascists. Many relatives were inducted into the Heer, left their villages and never returned. A sad time for my Austrian relatives. Thank you again.
This was extremely interesting. Pope Benedict did what just about every German youngster had to do. The fact that he went on to become Pope is very impressive and his experience and observations of Germany during WWll probably gave him solid direction once in the priesthood.
@@PROVOCATEURSK sounds a lot easier than done. Most of the youngsters wouldve died maybe all of them. Anyway would you walk the walk if you was in there shoes? I highly doubt it. Go virtue signaling somewhere else
@@PROVOCATEURSK lmfao, yep, just how like all you need to do is knock down your local establishment and all your problems would go away right? Shame that requires work so you won't do it.
My Czech grandfather (born 1920) had the unusual accolade of joining and training in the Luftwaffe when Germany invaded Czechoslovakia, then serving in the Czech RAF from late 1942 onwards, hunting U-boats in Short Stirlings in the North Atlantic. The sole reason for his volunteering to join the Luftwaffe - so he and a university chum could make off with a training aircraft and hand themselves and their aircraft over to the British (in Palestine, if memory serves me correctly). He was, unsurprisingly, an incredible character both during and after the war.
Would be interesting to see a video about the Pope during and immediately after WWII. Role of all the German churches and how the churches and clergy were treated by Nazi government would be an interesting topic.
Benedict is a good man. He resigned when he realized the job of Pope wasn't for him and made way for someone more suitable. I have several friends of his generation who were impressed into service in the Hitler Youth and Luftwaffe, and then transferred to the Wehrmacht. If you knew them, you would know there is no way they could support what Hitler and the Nazis did during World War II. I know it is no excuse, but they were caught up in societal forces greater than they could handle. They all felt a certain amount of shame about their role, but pride that they fought for their homeland against foreign invaders, but felt there was no other option available to them. They were all happy Hitler was defeated, but did their duty nonetheless.
I don't think he wasn't suitable for the job or resigned because of that. The Sankt Gallen group opposed his election in 2005 and pressured him to resign should he fail to reform the curia. But his reform attempts were actively sabotaged. Then in 2012 he was threatened with assasination. Archbisop Negri said that he was under immense pressure.
@@reviewreviewer1 Benedict does not seem easily intimidated. So, I doubt that would be a reason for him to quit. During a time of great upheaval, he probably searched his soul, asked God for guidance, and got an answer.
I have never commented on your videos but watch them all. You put out great vids with great commentary. Thanks for sharing your knowledge. They are to the point and always interesting.
Mark, you forget another German child soldier, his name is James Last. Since all civilian training centers had already been closed in 1943 due to the war, the only option was to become a musician with the Wehrmacht. Last began training at the Army Music School in Frankfurt am Main in 1943. Playing the clarinet.
Each of these episodes is a gem. This one on Benedict XVI is fascinating. I met him once when, as Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, he came to give the commencement address at the Dominican seminary in Washington, D.C. I attended. He also gave a few of us a talk and Q&A afterwards. Fascinating to think of him years earlier on a Flak crew. If I had known, I would have asked him about it!
My grandma was a "Flakwaffenhelferin".... I have a lot of photos from this time. "Schwere Flakersatzabteilung 18, 7. Flakausbildungsbatterie". Now she is 97 and the best grandma of the world!
It's utterly fascinating to me how you can dig up the records of 1 Hitler Youth from 80 years ago but we can't see the records of how our own presidents did in college just 40 years ago
It's fairly common knowledge that Joe Biden was "forced" to drop out from his 1st campaign for POTUS, due to the US news media exposing his LIES about his law school performance. You can easily find old news videos on UA-cam about this fact, by using the UA-cam "Search" box. Since the fact of Biden's lies remains to this day, makes you wonder why he ran a 2nd and 3rd time.
@@gregcarter8656 For better or worse, he is currently in the White House. Does that answer your question about why he ran again? Back in the good old days no one, on either party, realized that dead people were allowed to vote.
@@patrickfreeman8257 "no one, on either party, realized that dead people were allowed to vote." Or that the dead voters would elect a DEAD MAN to be POTUS. 😁
This comports with my own research. I was partially afraid this was going to be a hatchet job on a man I've met and love. My apologies. I should have known better, Mark. You always do fair and excellent work.
I've never heard this story of Pope Benedict XVI, still he's the greatest Liturgist I've ever known since Vatican II. Thank you Dr. Felton for uploading.
I wonder if the Doc has access to the Vatican archives or knows someone that does. This was incredibly interesting, I definitely didn’t know that about Benedict XVI.
The formerly named “Vatican Secret Archives” are open to anyone with valid credentials doing research, “secret” literally just meant it’s not open to the general public.
absolutely fascinating,as a Catholic i knew of his service in the hitler youth,and i have admired him,and the pressure he must have been under,he did not cave in.✝️
He obeyed all of the orders of the Nazi regime up to the point of it's crumbling. He was no martyr, no resister, no hero, no villain. He was no better or worse than the ordinary German at the time. He very much caved in. Compare and contrast to Franz Jägerstätter or Franz Reinisch.
Mark Felton thanks for this short but very informative videos about Benedict XVI. I've wanted to know about his part in WWII. Your video was exactly what I was wanting to know as are all your documentaries. Thank you and please keep making more. Cheers 👍
Dr Felton you are a very talented writer; and you are able to keep your emotions in check,Your writings are so factual and calming.....The German Archives must be enormous..?
I heard that when he was elected Pope, he got to meet all the Cardinals, and one American Cardinal new to him told him they'd already met, Ratzinger was puzzled, and the Cardinal explained that he had been a USAAF gunner in WW2...
The German actor Hardy Kruger was a 16 year old SS soldier in 1945. He was ordered to murder some US prisoners. Kruger ran away and was sentenced to death in absentia. Meanwhile, Kruger lived rough until VE Day when he surrendered to allied forces.
A person with my last name (Schweigert) won the knights cross serving in a flak battery sometime during the middle of the war. It's in the knights cross list. The specifics are incredibly frustrating to discover as I am very interested in learning about him. There was another Schweigert who was a tank commander in the waffen ss but I've never seen mention of his awards or service history. I have no idea how I am or might even would be related to either but it is a rare enough last name that leaves me to think there is probably a connection somewhere down the line. My grandfather and most of his brothers served the United States in some capacity during the war.
@Jason Schweigert I'm German and I can tell you that Schweigert isn't a suuuper rare name. It's not that common but not uncommon either. Just did a quick check of a website and that has 760 Schweigerts. But you might be related, you never know!
@@richardtedyell3350 yes sir I knew it wasn't super rare plus from what I've gathered over the years the variants, Schweikert, Schweighardt, Schweigurt and a few more could be all tied together down the line. Thank you for responding and doing that google! 🙌
My Dad also got drafted, he was already a engineer, spoke German, English and French, so they told him you will be going to officer school, he nicely so I'm told to go take a hike, so instead he also became a flack gunner, and got to do it in Russia, even got hit by shrapnel right at the end of the War, he's also got some stories to tell, and I regret not being close enough to him to hear some of the parts of his life, he lived to the cage of 93, RIP
I expected a hit piece but forgot you are for the most part fair, impartial, professional, and present only the facts. You are a rare breed.
Were this in the hands of today's cancel culture, they would have dropped all mentions of the conscientious objections of Ratzinger, and focused on membership in the Hitler Youth.
Never find a hit piece from Professor Felton. You may find a game of 52 card pick up - But that's because he wants us to do our homework.
You could get that everyday on the lame stream media. 😁
Mark is a rarity these days: a historian who does diligent research, presents the evidence in an unbiased way, and draws any conclusions only from that evidence.
@@oldsynner And lets the viewers know where the evidence is missing, too, so that they may choose not to draw uninformed conclusions as well.
Benidict XVI's story during the war has always been of great interest of me. Thanks for uploading.
Why, its clearly a sentence in a footnote unless you have an agenda?
@@DaveSCameron Wrong. The history of famous people are always more than a footnote without having to have an agenda. As a matter of fact, sometimes the 'agenda' is on the other side. For example, people could disparage Benedict XVI for being a "Nazi" because of his service in the German armed forces. But was he really a "Nazi", or just a young man who was conscripted as were so many others, regardless of his personal beliefs? This video just showed the truth, a truth which was of interest to MSB Hicks. So why should you accuse him of having an agenda unless you have one of your own? BTW, not only am I not Catholic, I am an atheist, so I am not defending Hicks on religious grounds, just on his right to have an interest in a part of history which you do not share.
@@tomjustis7237 Very well said, thanks Tom.
@@tomjustis7237 Ah tsooo its his fame and nicht his actions, then you clearly admit this!
Perhaps the most relevant aspect of Ratzinger's life is his sexual orientation. Much like JE Hoover, whose sexual orientation explains much of his homophobia and the great harm he caused, Ratzinger's opposition to gay rights was very likely rooted in the same cause.
My grandmother actually went to school with him. Always told me a story where he went to school with his bicycle and was cheerfully whisteling.
Cap
Why should i make up such a story haha
Great to hear 😍
@@TheSoviet13 what, do you have a cold head? Need to wear a cap to warm yourself up?
Whistling 'Horst wessell lied'
Dr Felton, as a catholic and WW2 enthusiast I greatly appreciate your thorough and respectful approach to his holiness, Pope emeritus Benedict the XVI and his time in the hitler youth . You are factual and stick to the truth in all your videos. Your series is the gold standard for WW2 docuseries, bar none. Your voice, coupled with your delivery is reminiscent of an early 90s documentary makes this a nostalgic treat every-time you upload.
Sadly false ideas such as openness to immorality, praying to Mary, purgatory and etc have quickly returned to the Roman Catholic Church. I tell you that most if not all of the popes have been against the one they claim to serve for almost its entirety.
I met him once at a shrine that had Latin inscriptions. Seeing he was a priest, I asked him what the inscription said. He appeared to not know what I said, but turned to a much younger priest who was with him, and said something to him. The young priest translated for us. I thanked him, and I did not know who he was. Later, I learned his name, and then, much later he became Pope. I don't think he spoke English, which was why he had a rather blank look when I asked him to translate. Being Catholic, it felt strange that I had met the future Pope.
Very envious of your encounter to be honest.
Very cool. Thank you for sharing this tidbit. One can learn a lot from such encounters.
@@IRELAND_MY_LOVE wow!
Superb story.
He's just a religious celebrity. I get it, if you're into physics, meeting a nasa department director is quite something, but if that highest profile cientist was part of a pedophile cover up, I don't think any physics fans would retain the same level of celebrity adoration as you guys are showing here.
My father born 1927 was a flak Helfer from 1943 on. This was normal and every male from the age of 15 was drafted into this service. There are many parallels to my fathers story in this documentary. Most of these boys were in central positions of German society from the 1960 on and there time as flak Helfer was a bonding moment. I would like to thank mr Felton for this work as it completely is in line with my knowledge of this subject.
So did my father, born 1927 as well. He moved to America and was the biggest American fan anyone could meet. He loved the freedom of America.
There's a book named _"Die Flakhelfer: Wie aus Hitlers jüngsten Parteimitgliedern Deutschlands führende Demokraten wurden"_
It's about how _"Hitler's youngest party members became Germany's leading democrats"._
I don't think it's available in English. Many men you wouldn't have believed, were members of the NSDAP like Genscher, Walser, Lenz or Dieter Hildebrandt.
Their membership was revealed in the mid 00's, if I remember correctly. When these old files were rediscovered, many of these men denied joining the party. They said that they didn't knew about their membership and that they didn't actively filed for it.
This is heavily debated to this day.
Their explanation is that they somehow automatically joined the party after being in the Hitler youth.
Normal eh? Does history bear the record of any who refused? Patriotism is normal but if the leader of your nation is ruthlessly invading other countries and murdering millions of your own fellow citizens, is it "normal"?
@Ulrich Zech
Here we are 77 years after the end of the Second World War. What is the attitude of the average German today towards the US 🇺🇸 bases that are still in (Western) Germany 🇩🇪?
(Frankfurt, Grafenwohr, Landstuhl, Wiesbaden, etc.)
So many young people in Western Europe seem have a negative attitude towards Americans, so I thought I'd ask you.
You can respond if like.
Have a nice day.
😀
@john USA This is in fact a not to easy subject today. But let’s start with my father. During his time as flak Helfer he loved us music, benny goodman, glen miller, artie shaw… etc. This was his music and the music of his Generation. When he married my mother the people in my mothers village ask why she is marring an American. They were very influenced by the usa. And this was for the German us relations a most positive time. But America lost over the time a lot of its positive guidance with e.g. the second irak war. Not to forget that the us gov tried to blame Germany over false intelligence about chemical weapons. And then there is the discussion of Germany military spending. Here it is forgotten that all us bases in Germany are paid by the German state.
And then there are a lot of political points going on in the us which fears us, like the inability to change (which could lead to a civil war) the extreme polarisation in politics. The poor choices given to Americans by the two parties. Or the 6 of January riots which was the biggest violation of democracy in American history in centuries. I myself studied for a short time in the usa which was a great experience. I married my wife in Las Vegas. So the USA has a big place in my hart. But sometimes I am just sitting at home and I am shaking my head if some news hit the headlines. But what does the USA expect. The us is the most powerful country on this planet. So by definition it is the biggest bully around. Do you love him or fear him. You will try to be on the right side. And sometimes if you hear comments from our side of the Atlantic think of them (if possible) as helpful advice based on the wish to make the USA a better place because we believe you deserve it.
I'm 14, ive been listening to Mark Felton since I was 12, hes help cultivated my love for history.
Other channels that have helped me with my love for history and technology:
Technology Connections (General technology explanations with some historical context given)
LGR (vintage technology, PCs, and video games)
Ahoy (Video game history pieces)
history and economics help with understanding the present
My father was a Luftwaffenhelfer near Oldenburg at the age of 16 in 1943.
He watched as his schoolmates gun emplacement disappeared during bombing.
His father, who had a dueling scar, was a German officer in WW1 and WW11.
My father later fought in The Battle of the Bulge and wrote a memoir.
As an old man, he said, "only people who have never been in a war, think it's an adventure".
What was the name of it?
I'm a devout Catholic and I appreciate Mark giving this a fair and unbiased treatment.
You guys are idolaters (Götzendiener)
You kiss statues and relics. You dress your pope in gold and silk, bowing to him like he is god.
Richest organisation in the world, but not really helping anyone. And not to talk about the pedo scandals in the church.
Catholicism is weird.
I was at the open-air Mass celebrated by Pope Benedict in Birmingham during his visit to the UK. He opened the Mass by announcing that it was a very special day, Battle of Britain Sunday, and that a very great debt was owed to Great Britain for fighting that battle, which he described as the first glimmer of light which broke the great darkness which had descended over his country, and most of Europe.
It's easy to say that, after Germany lost lol. If they had been victorious, very few Germans would denounce their victory 🤣
@@christopherjames7477 You know nothing.
@@jaikee9477 lol okay, o wise one
@@christopherjames7477 Well, as one single person you may have own opinion but you need to be with the mass. One good example that can show it is "the man in the high castle". Or if we look at the Vietnam war, was it the war to make Vietnam to be united and free or was just to install communist dictatorship with the help of Russia? Or to look closer to Cuba, ii it "free from imperialism" or just dictatorship without basic rights?
@@manjelos thats geo politics. Power politics. Nevermind "freedom".
Dr. Felton, thank you for this video and the way you set the historical record straight. You are the most honest chronicler of WWll. Glad to see this was not a hit piece.
He is very fair, and very objective. What I do object to is the notion that everybody did it because it was required. Some people hid in the woods and fought the Nazis instead of joining the Hitler youth. They gave their lives in opposition.
@@squaaaaak3178 Many summer family holidays were in the Black Forest as a child in the 80s and 90s and we would meet families who’s grandfathers had done just that - hidden out in the forests, dodging drafting patrols. Their families didn’t want their young children killed off, and / or their remaining male children ‘also’ killed. In the area seemingly no judgement for this route at that late stage, 1945.
In the Yugoslavia wars in the 90s they were doing the same, using kids at combatants or second line support labour. So let’s not all go thinking Europe has improved that much. In Afghanistan we all took for granted youngsters were doing work we’d never permit European kids to do (military support work). Any way … child labour is a problem not going away anytime soon in other parts of the world in the 21st century.
Wasent that the Pope who worked for the cia
Here here
@@petersmith4202 What work did he do for the CIA? Go undercover somewhere in Iran as an Ayatollah?
Speaking about pope-related WW2 stories, I recommend looking up the interesting life of Jerzy Kluger - the Jewish childhood friend of one Karol "Lolek" Wojtyła and later a soldier of the 2nd Polish Corps, who ended up living in Rome after the war and eventually reuniting with his friend. Except by then that friend was better known as Pope John Paul II.
You found this jewel out on Dave Emory and Nip Tucks Radio Free America Sir? 👍
@markfelton.. this iss a great video ideea
interesting indeed.
@@DaveSCameron I'm not familiar with that program. I'm from Poland and honestly can't remember where I've first heard about this story, probably somewhere on the TV (I think I saw at least two documentaries on different channels).
BTW there's a quite long interview in English with Mr Kluger uploaded to the UA-cam channel of the USC Shoah Foundation.
@@Artur_M. thanks for sharing !
Excellent video! I did not know about the fate of Ratzinger's cousin. The generation of adolescent Germans who were just below regular military age in the final years of WWII is known in Germany as “Flakhelfer-Generation” (flakhelper generation).
I'm very glad he survived to become Pope & help to guide Humanity.
Hitler's niece met the same fate as Ratzinger's cousin.
I wonder what they thought. Some were probably depressed because they were too young to be a soldier in the war, some were probably glad their birth date was likely the reason they survived. Feel a bit of both.
@@michaelsamuel9917 do tell how hes helped humanity. Im curious. Hes spoken against walls, as he himself hides behind one. Spoken against weapons, as the basement of the vatican is a literal armory. Id call that a hypocrite, myself.
So many good little fascists willing to die for the fatherland.
I remember the newspapers here in Australia making a big deal over Pope Benedict being in the Hitler youth. I remember seeing a Cartoon drawing of Pope Benedict in a Tiger tank with SS markings giving a Nazi salute. Because you were force to fight for the Nazis don’t mean your a Nazi. It’s good hear the true story of the boy that became the Pope
It was no different in the UK, they ran what amounted to a hate campaign against him, and his 'retirement' was seen as just reward for their efforts.
Thank you Mark, for reminding those of us who are lucky enough to live in democracies about who we can rely on when it comes to the truth.
The UK and Australian press is Murdoch-ridden garbage, infamous worldwide
Same here in the US. They, the corrupt media, ran a hate campaign against Benedict, until it fizzled out. He was a jack-boot Nazi, you know.
@@nicktecky55 The press in the UK is something to behold, though. When I lived, there, the Tabloids made or broke people. I guess it hasn't changed much, only maybe the news moves more quickly due to the rapid response of the online media?
That's disgusting !
My old man was born in 1927 as well, except it was in England. He was conscripted just like the Pope. There really was no choice. You had to serve your country.
And mine was from 26'. even being illiterate, he still had to serve in the Brazilian army from 44 - onwards. A country that, though involved, was half a world away from the fight. What was the young Joseph Ratzinger supposed to do, but to comply?
My great grandfather fought in the Greek Army during the war, we have a big hand coloured photograph of him and his brother in their army uniforms hanging in my grandparents’ house.
Underrated comment - plain and simple.
There were other options, as always. If all soldiers would shoot their officers there would be no wars but here we are.
Great! So was your dad a religious leader after the war? I understand that Ratzinger had no choice and had to be in the Hitler Jugend and in the army (although, I guess the members of the White Rose , and many were Catholic, thought that they did have a choice). So yes, he was an ordinary German. However, maybe the leader of the largest and the most powerful christian church should not have been ordinary.
I remember when I was a kid, around 6 or 7, when Pope John Paul II died. I don’t remember a lot because I was young, but I do remember seeing the Vatican at night when they showed it live. I come from a Catholic family and I’m Catholic myself. I remember my family was shocked and a little saddened when John Paul II died because my parents spent most of their lives with him in the Papacy. Obviously, Benedict was elected as Pope shortly after and I spent a great deal of my childhood during his term. I went to Catholic schools most of my life and I went to a Catholic High School. I didn’t learn that Benedict was in the Wehrmacht until I was in High School when my friends were talking about it and showed me the picture of Benedict in the Luftwaffe uniform. I was shocked at first, but then as a World War II buff, I remembered that all boys at the age of 10 had to be in the Hitler Youth, and many later had no choice but to serve with in the Wehrmacht or Waffen SS, and that’s what Benedict had to do. I’m just glad that they didn’t ding him for that when they were in the Papal discussions, because he had no choice.
I can remember US anti Communist nuttters calling Pope John Paul II a "Communist" Pope just because he came from Poland which was behind the Iron curtain, these fools didn't even realize that the Church in Poland was independent of the Communist state and was very suppressed, hence the attempt on his life most likely by the KGB using a "Patsy" Muslim Turk.
There is always a choice. The martyrs chose a different one.
@@marktrain9498 exactly.
I don’t understand this discussion. Not only he had no choice but it was his duty. At the end of the war the germans were using children and old people.
It is a bit like being the pope . It was not his choice and he made his duty . At the end he « deserted » when he could.
@@marktrain9498 That is easy to say but we where not there, as far as I can see the only “crime” you could call him on is not getting himself killed trying to stop the slave labor he saw, something that would have been extremely difficult as being a Catholic the Neopagan SS officers would have considered him unreliable, that’s why he was discriminated against on the eastern front, in fact I remember a story about Pope John Paul II from WW2 I heard when he died, as a young Polish man he did not have the same protections his later German colleague did, The only thing that prevented him from going to a concentration camp as a suspected catholic seminary student was that he had a work card from a mine in his back pocket, I really don’t see any reason for The future pope Benedict to martyr himself for the Catholic Church, maybe he could’ve done more maybe not we will probably never know but based only on this video it seems to me that as a non-catholic Christian all I can say is I disagree with him on matters of theology but I don’t see that he did anything wrong during World War II.
Another interesting note. Pope John Paul II Karol Wojtyla who suffered under the Nazi's . Was very much aware of Ratzinger involvement in the war. Not only did John Paul II did not have bitterness towards Ratzinger. He appointed him the to office "Doctrine of faith" but retired in 1982. But Pope John Paul II kept him to do various assignments in the Vatican. John Paul II knew very well that by keeping Ratzinger close, he put him in high contention to be the next Pope. Of course that did happen. So while technically they were enemies as young men during the war. They held no bitterness to each other after the war. And JPII knew Ratzinger was forced into duty by the Nazi's.
This is the best explanation.
@@WojciechP915 No it is the worst explanation. And shows your childish temper tantrum towards history. A totalitarian regime that mows down who countries. That dominated a whole continent for six years. Yet somehow you expect a boy to stand up to the Nazis ? I guess you expect a 12 year old boy to take down Russia Vladimir Putin ? Or a 14 year old boy to run for U.S. President ?
It's a shame that today's youth and then some don't understand that the world is full of Gray and not Black and White..
These days a comment at 10 years old can destroy your life at 30 years old..
One Nascar Driver lost his job a year or so ago not becsue anything he did but becsue his father made a rather tame comment before he was born..
A tame comment especially at the time is now reason to destroy his children when the Cancelors get a hold on it..
JPIIGMD is popular among Polish LOL players, what does it mean?
JP-2 had Parkinson's disease and barely knew what was what for most of his papacy.
Doctrine of the Faith is about keeping the Church hierarchy in line, and to not fall to modern ideas, like maybe women are equal to men, or that Mary being a virgin was unlikely, or that maybe other faiths that believe in God might be basically ok. It is a descendent of the infamous Inquisition. Sounds like a good busy office to stick someone you don't actually like, but have forgotten quite why.
I have often wondered if you would one day produce a video about Pope Benedict XVI’s involvement in WWII. And I’m glad you have as I enjoyed this production immensely. Thank you Dr Felton.
A friend of my grandfathers was 15 when he was drafted in late 1944 as a Flak helfer, manning a quad 20mm flak in 1945. When I asked him about his war experience (me being 16 years old at that time) He mentioned to me how he and his friends made great effrots to shoot past the targets, wanting the war to end as soon as possible, missing them on purpose. The thought of killing another human being was terrifing and nothing he and his friends wanted to live with.
It is hard for most people to shoot to kill.
Of course he would say that though....
Things you need know about war... When your city is bombed .You might want shot down aircraft...
Hmmm, I mean they were most likely shooting at planes trying to bomb them. Not sure theyd want to miss.
@@jerrodbutali3990 He was active in such a late stage of the war (last three months or so) that bombing raids on his home town where not a thing anymore. Also yes he would, he and his family have been social democrats.
Rest in Peace Joseph Ratzinger. A consequential person of the 20th and 21st Century.
He was a Nazi
Well said
As pope, he did help a lot of priests escape their human consequences for inappropriately touching children. A hider of groomers. His name is NOT in the Book-of-Life.
@@NostalgicGamerRickOShay He is a saint who kept the heretics at bay.
@@Lovebomb-pu7ji How is it well know that he protected pedos? He's the one that started cracking down on pedophilia in the Church, in some aspects, more than Pope Francis.
Mark, your ability to explain history in a way we can feel it is amazing, thank you sir!!
Wow. Incredibly interesting. I’ve never heard his military history in such detail.
As mentioned in the video, his youth wasn't actually anything out of the ordinary for boys in that age-group. They all grew up under constant NS indoctrination and were later conscripted, no matter if the indoctrination had worked on them or not. Yet still, having served in WWII is often viewed as a stain on someone's CV in Germany - regardless of the fact that they barely had any chance to have it any other way. This holds true even more if the person in question later becomes a celebrity or holds any significant office.
In the end, this results in noone wanting to discuss this issue and sweep it under the rugs as good as they can, or making up / exaggerating stories of how they resisted their service.
But to be honest, I think noone in his or her early teens can seriously be expected to be a well-informed critical thinker after 12 years of propaganda, (next to) no access to outside information and only knowing the opressive government of the Nazis.
So, did the pope shoot down any allied aircraft? The answer should be "what does it matter", because considering all the circumstances a 3rd-Reich-Teenager faced it wouldn't say anything about his or her character or personality anyway.
@@hafenbraut I think we can safely say he doesn't have too many Jewish friends
At school I was not particularly fond of history, but now mr Felton totally absorbs me in his historical lessons!
From what I can tell from limited snippets, the German army didn’t seem very religious. At least the younger soldiers. Perhaps this was because Nazis viewed Christianity as a competing philosophy. Rewarding to see that a German soldier preserved his faith and later lived such a noble life
The Nazi regime was religious movement. In Mein Kampf Hitler says " his work against the Jews is done in direct instruction of almighty god. The Catholic churches first political treaty was with the Third Reich. Gott Mit Uns was on every German belt buckle ( god on our side)
My wife's grandmother was a German teenager at that time. They were a Catholic family. Their parish priest was sent to a concentration camp before the war even started. No one found out what happened to him.
Nazis were secular paganists. They believed in the "will" alone, like Nietzsche did, and Hitler is on record bemoaning the fact Germans had been subject to a weak religion like Christianity rather than something with a more pronounced martial spirit like Islam.
If you are curious, you can watch a lecture about Nietzsche by a modern ultra right-winger called Jonathan Bowden right here on youtube. It's interesting because it shows just how far from Christianity those people actually are.
"GOTT MIT UNS". Yeah they were atheists.
@@hxrx9670 Hitler was at least, he only used Christianity to gain more followers. He viewed Christianity as a Jewish religion, and if they would have one the war the next target was the Catholics then Christianity itself.
My dad went to school in Melbourne, Australia in the 40's. He said a 13 year old boy started the school year with them in 1946. Six months earlier he'd been fighting in the battle of Berlin.
I specifically like this episode a lot. Thank you for your unbiased delivery of facts. I would love to hear more about military pasts of leaders.
There is a town in my local area called Bad Aibling close to Rosenheim, which has a compound where he was kept as a prisoner of war. It used to be a US military base during the cold war before the americans sold it (currently no one knows what its used for), but before that it was a luftwaffe airfield, which was used as a pow camp after the war.
wow an authentic RoachDogg Jr profile pic... in the wild no less!
@@ganfy465 xD haha.. got me!
No one know what’s it used for? 😅😅😅😅
Everybody knows 🤷🏻♂️
Mark, you are phenomenal. I have learned more from your channel that I have learned in my entire life reading history books. Simple thank you can not express my gratitude for your unbelievable and exceptional job. But please accept my gratitude.
A remarkable Catholic. God bless him. Thank you for sharing his trials as a young man along with those conscripted of his age. Children in war.
He chose to help instead of resisting, that is a bad thing. Going to prison or heaven was always an option.
And now he is living in permanent residence on Vatican soil as it's considered a state. Why? Why did they build him a permanent residence at the Vatican? Because, you sick, degenerate, who cannot apparently recognize evil when it's right smack in front of your face, he is guilty of allowing rampant acts of pedophilia to occur under his watchful eye, over and over again, covering up presumably to save the face of the Church. Well, that face is gone now, it is over, and regardless of what anyone believes, your soul is in serious jeopardy to have any respect for this "man." Repent. He also helped trigger the Balkan wars of the 1990s.
@@PROVOCATEURSK V-I-R-T-U-E S-I-G-N-A-L-I-N-G at its finest
Every time I think Mark Felton can no longer surprise me he releases a video like this. Great work.
A really well written memoir is “Flakhelfer to Grenadier” by Karl Heinz Schlesier. He later became an American university professor.
Fascinating as always. Thank you, Doctor Felton!
Wow. You learn something new every day, and its even fun when Dr. Felton presents it! Thank you Dr. Felton for another fine history lesson.
There was a movie made back in 1983 titled - The Scarlet and the Black - Based on J. P. Gallagher's book The Scarlet Pimpernel of the Vatican (published in 1967) which tells the story of Monsignor Hugh O'Flaherty, a real-life Irish Catholic priest who saved thousands of Jews and escaped Allied POWs in Rome. A video on that would be very interesting.
They need to do another movie on similar people who helped thousands of Nazis flee the Allied control commission after the war.
@@vk2ig ODESSA (The Odessa File)
And? What's your point.
Aye, he and Archbishop Damaskinos of Greece. Damaskinos (who supervised most Greek Orthodox churches in Greece) had his priests fill out thousands of fake Christian baptism certificates for any Jew who wanted one. He also convinced the chief of the Athens police to help provide fake passports for Jews. He even wrote an open letter to the Nazi SS commander in Greece, signed by dozens of Greek intellectuals, demanding an end to deportations of Jews. The SS commander threatened to have him shot, to which Damaskinos replied “The prelates of the Greek Orthodox Church are hanged, not shot, please respect our traditions.” (He was referring to Turkish lynchings of Greek priests). For the open letter, he spent the rest of the war under house arrest. After the war he became Regent of Greece, and helped broker a truce between the communists and the anti-communists in Greece until the King returned from Egypt.
Best history teacher, ever.
Thank you for your insurmountable contributions to history, Dr Mark.
Really interesting. I admired him greatly as Pope Benedict. He is a deep thinker and a great writer and puts across his ideas in easy to understand writings.
I'd say that any view on his writings is mostly a matter of faith. In my eyes he was an intolerant fossil, with an ideology more suited to the 16th century, not the 21st. But, everyone is entitled to his own thoughts of course.
@@capusvacans He was quite tolerant of pedophiles. Not sure how progressive that is but he was a true pioneer in the field
@@capusvacans haha i am protestant and I prefer my theology from that time 😅 rather than the new liberalism.
@@louisoost121 and thats fine, live your life like that, just dont expect others to do so aswell
@@capusvacans Religion is about eternal ideas, not development, so your talk about fossils is very ignorant and reeks of intellectual pride.
I just saw a program on the PTO. Dr. Felton was an expert commentor. He wrote a book on Japanese Gestopo. He contributions were of the highest caliber.
This segment is a fascinating look at the retired pope. Excellent, thank you!
Very balanced and respectfully delivered, as always.
My sincere Thank You, to Dr. Felton for producing this truly excellent short documentary on the life of Pope Benedict. Pope Benedict was a man of God, but was caught in the middle of the nightmare that engulfed Germany. At no time did ever lose his faith in God, and in the Freedom of Humankind. His Holiness abhorred the Nazi regime and never, ever, supported it, but actually feared it. Again, my heartfelt Thank You to Dr. Felton for all the research he gathered and provided us with in this outstanding video.
Now THAT was a fascinating history lesson! Thanks Mark!
Ich bin nur für die Kommentare hier. Seriously, you are an erudite scholar with expertise in this area that is second to none. Thank you.
Whenever I hear that Intro Music, I now do the 'Fascinating History (Office Chair) Dance', in anticipation of excellent, detailed, interesting content. This channel is a real gift.
Thank you Dr. Felton, et. Al !
My Opa was born in 1933 in a small village. He remembered the mentally disabled children disappearing, and also seeing his catholic priest get executed because he was anti nazi. His Hitler youth uniform was burned and he managed to avoid joining Hitler youth as well
Those are terrible memories for a young boy or teenager to bear ... and not easily forgotten, either.
@@vk2ig my opa was a stern man to say the least. When he got older he was able to come to terms with everything but early on yeah it heavily affected his life
@@TawnyRain2332 My Omi (by marriage) was the only one of her siblings that really managed to move on from their experiences in the war. It's incredible that she could come to terms with what the Soviet soldiers did to her and her family.
My Grandfather once took me to a museum in his home town and showed me a picture of his 4th grade class.
He then pointed to one after another and said told me what happened to each of them "shot, killed, abducted, raped and killed, ..."
He was the only one in the photo who did not have to go to war because of an accident with farming equipment which maimed him at age 15. I am lucky to be alive.
He lived in the border region with Czechoslovakia when the war ended. The border was readjusted in such a way that his village was just inside Czechoslovakia. Then the Czech army blew up their church and plowed the graveyard to keep the Germans from coming back to it.
He also told me about the Czech headhunters that came during the night to abduct random and innocent people.
I will never forget this day. My jolly grandfather told me so many sad stories with a very neutral demeanor...
He said that when these things happen the sun shines just the same afterwards and that is what counts.
Czechoslovakia got away with way too many crimes and massacres against the Bohemian Germans once the war was over. I understand their way, but the ethnic cleansing of the eastern Germans remains the biggest act of it's kind in human history, and it's barely talked about (!)
@@riograndedosulball248 It has been coming to light in recent years, though. I knew nothing of this until about five years ago.
"The sun shines just the same afterwards". And to me, that's the thing that's so hard to process sometimes. The sun can be shining in what would be a nice fine day, then terror and death descends on your life, and then afterwards the sun is shining in a nice fine day ... as if nothing had happened.
@@vk2ig Not as if nothing happened. I hope ! I would rather think the sun shines for us to have light to do good and carry on and keep, resume, or start being a good person. Some would say that's silly but fortunately only " some". Billions believe tomorrow is a new day and look ahead not behind and do good works for Humanity.
@@riograndedosulball248 Supposedly the RC Croats ( " Croatians" ) via the Utasche rounded up Orthodox to their churches and locked the doors and set the churches on fire. So in retaliation, 50 + years later, the Orthodox made their Catholic captures bite off the " male organ" of the guy standing next to them. Grandfathers. Grandsons. et al. Barbarism on both sides. No excuses. No excuses either for American Thug Culture. Self defense is one thing but disfiguring or killing somebody because of something yesterday or further and no immediate threat to your life is " Sick and Wrong", as the kids say.
Mark is an amazing historian. This should be on television.
While I'm not a Roman Catholic, I think someone should make a movie about this man's life.
already done.
@@riskinhos when?
It would most likely end in a religious WW3. Ratzinger IS NOT the suffering innocent as portrayed in this programme, quite the contrary !!!!
@@clarkhull7546 in 2019, the two popes
I wish it makes a movie about his life and relationship with his predecessor who’s from neighboring Polans
Excellent research. I hadn't known that he was actually drafted in the the Wehrmacht. I have always despised the way people with various agendas have tried to smear Ratzinger as a "Nazi." They either don't know or intentionally ignore the tense relationship between Catholics and the regime; the facts of totalitarian compulsion (and in the latter days the conversion of every disobedience into capital treason); and, lastly, the conditions in 44-45 of living in a country that was bombed into near oblivion (50% of 80% of all German cities were totally destroyed and that meant the intended slaughter of civilians as state war-time policy).
Im skeptical about the supposed "Catholic" Hostility to National-Socialism? Northern Germany is mainly Protestant and Southern Germany including Austria is mainly Catholic. Southern Germany Bavaria is where National- Socialism emerged. It was massive in Austria too. Hitler was a Catholic so were most the top Nazi leaders. Catholicism itself had a lot of anti-Semitism in its teachings. Im a Catholic, and i recall in mid 1960s teachers saying a few things about Jews that would get them arrested these days. Fact is, overwhelming majority of Germans were behind National- Socialism by 1936, when it had brought about full employment and prosperity.
@@occidentadvocate.9759 Thats alot of bullshit
The Nazis despised Christians, but they especially loathed Catholics. Catholics were seen as not much "better" than Jews.
@@occidentadvocate.9759
The official version of Nazism was atheistic. Hitler despised Christianity as an offshoot of Judaism. The fact that Hitler and other leading Nazi figures came from Catholic backgrounds doesn't mean they had any sympathy for the Catholic church. The Nazis imprisoned and murdered thousands of Catholic clergy and faithful.
Catholicism has traditionally been regarded with hostility and suspicion in northern Europe, i.e., northern Germany and Scandinavia, ever since the Reformation. The Nazis identified closely with northern European culture and traditions. Catholicism was seen as belonging to the decadent, romantic South and disliked for that reason, even beyond the general aversion the Nazi leadership felt toward Christianity as a religion that developed out of Judaism.
@@4FYTfa8EjYHNXjChe8xs7xmC5pNEtz not true. Nazism was secular, but they did appeal to Christianity, as it won them votes. Hitler courted the leadership of the various denominations. He appealed to Christian unity? He stated... "Whilst the Catholic and Protestant fight it out, the enemy of the Aryan race and all of Christendom, the Jew,, laughs up his sleave". He quoted from the Bible on many occasions. He once also stated... " i intend to finnish the work that Jesus Christ started". The notion of Nazism being anti Christian only came about after the war. Part of the Propaganda frenzy of anti nazi stories the conquerors put out, to justify their regime change.
Thanks for a frank and factual account of Pope Benedict's early history _sans_ pointing and shrieking.
Looking in the comments section for a shrieking blue haired person comment😂 I'm sure I'll find one soon.... I will keep looking😂
@@marcusfieldfield4069 your not alone
@@marcusfieldfield4069 *shrieks loudly* I thought I recognized that his right arm looked more muscular than his left. Now I know why....plenty of regular exercise 🤔 🤣 🙋♂️
@@marcusfieldfield4069 lmao same
I agree. Benedict deserves criticism for willingly leading a global child abuse ring as an adult. Not his activities as a conscripted youth in wartime Germany.
Your channel has been instrumental in helping me overcome my alcohol addiction by renewing my passion for history. Thank you, Mark.
History, not commentary - Well done Dr. Felton!
You should do a video about Pope Pius XII aka Hitler's pope and just how true that nickname was. From what I've read, it seems that it's a myth and partially Soviet propaganda. Would love to hear your take on him! Great video!
Is that the pope that blessed the nazi troops?
Interesting topic. I have both books, "Hitler's Pope," and "The Myth of Hitler's Pope." They are in my piles of books somewhere, waiting to get on my reading list.
Considered Pius XII was directly thanked by the new state of Israel's authorities after the war and that state's creation, yeah it's pretty much bull.
@@lsq7833 Well I guess that settles it haha.
He was not Nazi's Pope. To prove that point consider what the chief rabbi of Rome did after the war: he converted to Catholicism and took the first name of Eugene which was the Pope's first name
Wow, interesting. You never cease to amaze us with your knowledge of WW2 history Dr. Felton!
So what? He served his country like millions did and do. He was 16 a child! He became a priest and served the church like millions became politicians, army officers, police officers and social servants. As a child/teenager I met Manfred Rommel twice when he was the city mayor of Stuttgart due to my dads involvement in politics. A great person I assume same Benedict.
Mark, this was awesome! Thanks for posting!
At this point i hit like right at the start of Mark's videos, because
1- the iconic intro
2- i already know that Mark did some great work
Dr Felton, can you do a video on the Zoo Flak towers and other flak bunkers?
We appreciate your videos! Thank you
I know of five still existing giant flak towers in Vienna, Austria,
@@tomc642 Amazing that structures such as those you mention are still noticeable today.
Thank you for that info
It is very interesting to hear the history of a soldier from WW2 whether he became a pope or not!
Mark, my dad claimed to have been housed with Joseph Ratzinger during the demobilization of the German military in 1945. My dad was a Latvian in the Luftwaffe (he turned 17 in Aug 1944). His unit was policed up by the Americans in western Czech Republic. His unit was house in a local college dormitory with many men per room. My dad claimed that to pass the time, they learned the names of everyone on the floor and Joseph Ratzinger was in the adjacent room. My dad was convinced that it was THE Joseph because my dad remembered where Joseph grew up. I would love to know if this story has any possibility of being true.
Thank you, Mark.
My father was Baptist and my mother Catholic. Thanks for not doing a hateful diatribe against Pope Benedict XVI.
I am grateful he survived the hardcore Nazis. Being Catholic and not hardcore Nazi, he was most fortunate not to have been beaten and crippled or murdered.
My Aunt Inga was German and would not talk about her family, let alone WW2.
My mother's people came from the Tyrol and hated the Nazis and fascists. Many relatives were inducted into the Heer, left their villages and never returned. A sad time for my Austrian relatives.
Thank you again.
This was extremely interesting. Pope Benedict did what just about every German youngster had to do. The fact that he went on to become Pope is very impressive and his experience and observations of Germany during WWll probably gave him solid direction once in the priesthood.
All the German youngsters had to do was get rid of as many officers as possible. You can´t fight a war when all your officers are dead.
@@PROVOCATEURSK sounds a lot easier than done. Most of the youngsters wouldve died maybe all of them. Anyway would you walk the walk if you was in there shoes? I highly doubt it. Go virtue signaling somewhere else
@@PROVOCATEURSK lmfao, yep, just how like all you need to do is knock down your local establishment and all your problems would go away right? Shame that requires work so you won't do it.
A series of events that provided great understanding and empathy for this Pope. 👍🇦🇺
He covered up the sexual abuse of children within the church.
@@johnbrowne3950 certainly an area not covered. 👍🇦🇺
My grandfather was from '26 and he too was recruited to serve. I can't imagine what these teenagers went through
Good content keep it up dr felton!!
Dr Felton does it again! Thanks Dr for another awesome video
Well.. that blew my mind! Thank you yet again Mark, your show is the best.
My Czech grandfather (born 1920) had the unusual accolade of joining and training in the Luftwaffe when Germany invaded Czechoslovakia, then serving in the Czech RAF from late 1942 onwards, hunting U-boats in Short Stirlings in the North Atlantic. The sole reason for his volunteering to join the Luftwaffe - so he and a university chum could make off with a training aircraft and hand themselves and their aircraft over to the British (in Palestine, if memory serves me correctly). He was, unsurprisingly, an incredible character both during and after the war.
Your grandfather and JPII both born in 1920 and JPII was Polish from the fellow neighboring of your own grandfather’s background of Czech
Would be interesting to see a video about the Pope during and immediately after WWII. Role of all the German churches and how the churches and clergy were treated by Nazi government would be an interesting topic.
Benedict is a good man. He resigned when he realized the job of Pope wasn't for him and made way for someone more suitable. I have several friends of his generation who were impressed into service in the Hitler Youth and Luftwaffe, and then transferred to the Wehrmacht. If you knew them, you would know there is no way they could support what Hitler and the Nazis did during World War II. I know it is no excuse, but they were caught up in societal forces greater than they could handle. They all felt a certain amount of shame about their role, but pride that they fought for their homeland against foreign invaders, but felt there was no other option available to them. They were all happy Hitler was defeated, but did their duty nonetheless.
I don't think he wasn't suitable for the job or resigned because of that.
The Sankt Gallen group opposed his election in 2005 and pressured him to resign should he fail to reform the curia.
But his reform attempts were actively sabotaged.
Then in 2012 he was threatened with assasination.
Archbisop Negri said that he was under immense pressure.
@@reviewreviewer1 Benedict does not seem easily intimidated. So, I doubt that would be a reason for him to quit. During a time of great upheaval, he probably searched his soul, asked God for guidance, and got an answer.
@@christopherkahn6522 But the answer seems to have been an invalid resignation where he didn't give up the Papal office, only his ministry.
As an irreverent Catholic I commend Dr Felton for his impartial presentation.
I have never commented on your videos but watch them all. You put out great vids with great commentary. Thanks for sharing your knowledge. They are to the point and always interesting.
He was a Soldier of Germany in a very different time when things was very difficult. He's an Honorable Man and a servant of God.
He decided to not shoot any german soldier and he chose to avoid heaven...
His predecessor Karol Wojtyla late John Paul II was a Soldier in Poland before and after Sept 1, 1939
His photo at 5:35, training to be a priest, what he always wanted to do. His young face reveals contentment with a hint of sadness and depth.
Mark, you forget another German child soldier, his name is James Last. Since all civilian training centers had already been closed in 1943 due to the war, the only option was to become a musician with the Wehrmacht. Last began training at the Army Music School in Frankfurt am Main in 1943. Playing the clarinet.
Each of these episodes is a gem. This one on Benedict XVI is fascinating. I met him once when, as Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, he came to give the commencement address at the Dominican seminary in Washington, D.C. I attended. He also gave a few of us a talk and Q&A afterwards. Fascinating to think of him years earlier on a Flak crew. If I had known, I would have asked him about it!
I love learning a new fact about the WW2 era from Dr Felton
Private Ratzinger...amazing story.. God bless this brave Pope!
R.I.P Pope Benedict
RIP raper of young boys and protector of rapers, may you burn in hell for eternity.
@@steffenrosmus9177 amen
@@steffenrosmus9177 lol
@@steffenrosmus9177 couldn't agree more
Every man and woman has a story to tell.👍👍👍👍👍♥️🇺🇸
😢😢most of the information in this video is new to me. Fascinating, as always, Dr. Felton. Thank you.
My grandma was a "Flakwaffenhelferin".... I have a lot of photos from this time. "Schwere Flakersatzabteilung 18, 7. Flakausbildungsbatterie". Now she is 97 and the best grandma of the world!
I wish Benedict hadn't resigned. He was the best pope in my lifetime.
It's utterly fascinating to me how you can dig up the records of 1 Hitler Youth from 80 years ago but we can't see the records of how our own presidents did in college just 40 years ago
It's fairly common knowledge that Joe Biden was "forced" to drop out from his 1st campaign for POTUS,
due to the US news media exposing his LIES about his law school performance.
You can easily find old news videos on UA-cam about this fact, by using the UA-cam "Search" box.
Since the fact of Biden's lies remains to this day, makes you wonder why he ran a 2nd and 3rd time.
@@gregcarter8656 For better or worse, he is currently in the White House. Does that answer your question about why he ran again?
Back in the good old days no one, on either party, realized that dead people were allowed to vote.
@@patrickfreeman8257 "no one, on either party, realized that dead people were allowed to vote."
Or that the dead voters would elect a DEAD MAN to be POTUS. 😁
This comports with my own research. I was partially afraid this was going to be a hatchet job on a man I've met and love. My apologies. I should have known better, Mark. You always do fair and excellent work.
I've never heard this story of Pope Benedict XVI, still he's the greatest Liturgist I've ever known since Vatican II. Thank you Dr. Felton for uploading.
My aunt on my mother’s side was a flakhelfer at age 16. She was on a radar unit in the area of Regensburg. She passed away in 2005.
I wonder if the Doc has access to the Vatican archives or knows someone that does. This was incredibly interesting, I definitely didn’t know that about Benedict XVI.
Those criminals guard their secrets VERY well.
The formerly named “Vatican Secret Archives” are open to anyone with valid credentials doing research, “secret” literally just meant it’s not open to the general public.
I was just thinking of how incredible it is that our Pope emeritus fought in WW2 and this video popped up
absolutely fascinating,as a Catholic i knew of his service in the hitler youth,and i have admired him,and the pressure he must have been under,he did not cave in.✝️
@@markmaki4460 if they had won, he would been a staunch National- Socialist.
He obeyed all of the orders of the Nazi regime up to the point of it's crumbling. He was no martyr, no resister, no hero, no villain. He was no better or worse than the ordinary German at the time. He very much caved in. Compare and contrast to Franz Jägerstätter or Franz Reinisch.
@@markmaki4460 I'm sure no subject of colonial forced conversion would find any irony in this comment.
@@markmaki4460 What does that have to do with anything i said?
@@markmaki4460 Typical.
Mark Felton thanks for this short but very informative videos about Benedict XVI.
I've wanted to know about his part in WWII.
Your video was exactly what I was wanting to know as are all your documentaries.
Thank you and please keep making more.
Cheers 👍
Dr Felton you are a very talented writer; and you are able to keep your emotions in check,Your writings are so factual and calming.....The German Archives must be enormous..?
I heard that when he was elected Pope, he got to meet all the Cardinals, and one American Cardinal new to him told him they'd already met, Ratzinger was puzzled, and the Cardinal explained that he had been a USAAF gunner in WW2...
The German actor Hardy Kruger was a 16 year old SS soldier in 1945. He was ordered to murder some US prisoners. Kruger ran away and was sentenced to death in absentia. Meanwhile, Kruger lived rough until VE Day when he surrendered to allied forces.
Love to see a video on the first US troops to land in UK (which was in Northern Ireland).
there was a horrific incident in NI where white US troops assaulted their black comrades. Awful people
Most unbiased history channel
AWESOME video! This was a pleasant surprise
A person with my last name (Schweigert) won the knights cross serving in a flak battery sometime during the middle of the war. It's in the knights cross list. The specifics are incredibly frustrating to discover as I am very interested in learning about him.
There was another Schweigert who was a tank commander in the waffen ss but I've never seen mention of his awards or service history. I have no idea how I am or might even would be related to either but it is a rare enough last name that leaves me to think there is probably a connection somewhere down the line.
My grandfather and most of his brothers served the United States in some capacity during the war.
LOTS of records didn't survive sadly.
They were great fighting men.
@Jason Schweigert
I'm German and I can tell you that Schweigert isn't a suuuper rare name. It's not that common but not uncommon either. Just did a quick check of a website and that has 760 Schweigerts.
But you might be related, you never know!
@@richardtedyell3350 yes sir I knew it wasn't super rare plus from what I've gathered over the years the variants, Schweikert, Schweighardt, Schweigurt and a few more could be all tied together down the line.
Thank you for responding and doing that google! 🙌
@@TheEvilmooseofdoom yes sir. I've figured that out over the years. Even basic civilian information and such things can be difficult.
He was the best Pope in a Century.
Future Pope Benedict XVI: "Praise the Lord! And pass the ammunition!"
Other flak gunners, "WAS?"
Was zum Teufel?
Well done. As usual. Thank you, sir!
My Dad also got drafted, he was already a engineer, spoke German, English and French, so they told him you will be going to officer school, he nicely so I'm told to go take a hike, so instead he also became a flack gunner, and got to do it in Russia, even got hit by shrapnel right at the end of the War, he's also got some stories to tell, and I regret not being close enough to him to hear some of the parts of his life, he lived to the cage of 93, RIP