Don't forget Pope Benedict was in the Hitler Youth.
this post was submitted on 30 Dec 2025
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He had no choice
Ratzinger's family, especially his father, bitterly resented the Nazis, and his father's opposition to Nazism resulted in demotions and harassment of the family.[20] Following his 14th birthday in 1941, Ratzinger was conscripted into the Hitler Youth – as membership was required by law for all 14-year-old German boys after March 1939[21] – but was an unenthusiastic member who refused to attend meetings, according to his brother.[22] In 1941, one of Ratzinger's cousins, a 14-year-old boy with Down syndrome, was taken away by the Nazi regime and murdered during the Aktion T4 campaign of Nazi eugenics.
I can't find anything on Walter Hallstein and Adolf Heusinger being nazis or committing war crimes. Looks like the former was an academic drafted in the army and the latter a high-ranking officer who began his career before the nazis.
I get that Heusinger can be seen as complicit (he must have known for whom he worked and didn't quit), but what about Hallstein?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Hallstein
In 1935, Hallstein attempted to start a military career alongside his academic duties.[17] In 1936, he managed to integrate a voluntary military service in an artillery unit.[17] In the years between 1936 and 1939, he attended several military courses[18] and was made a reserve officer.[17]
Hallstein was a member of several nominally Nazi professional organizations,[g][19] but he was not a member of the Nazi Party
Not the worst nazi but the voluntary military service under the Nazis seals the deal for me. Definitely a Nazi.
Ah yeah, I thought he was drafted. Thanks!
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