Thoughts on Pope Benedict as American POW

It is truly amazing how History and God's plan works. One does wonder what Pope Benedict will be thinking as he sits in the Oval Office of the White House next week. The same Oval Office where Roosevelt and Truman mapped out the war and reconstruction of Germany.

Pope Benedict, long long ago quit being wowed by by meeting foreign leaders. He has seen too many and seen a whole heck of a lot of history. Plus when you are the Successor of St Peter and the only thing that rivals the long term Governance of the Papacy is the Japanese Monarchy then meeting a term limited politician even one that is the often called the "Leader of the Free World" is no big deal.

However the Pope is still a man and it would be intriguing to see if he has thoughts onhow an former American Pow that had his house used as Military headquarters is now Leader of the Catholic Church and now in the Oval Office. In fact out of the WWII generation he is the last ruling leader. I suspect he finds it a tad humorous.

Time Magazine in their their recent edition has a interesting observation from an American Cardinal. The article is not that bad even though it has some flaws. However getting back to the subject:
The Pope's admiration for the U.S. has deep roots. Unlike John Paul II, who was intellectually and theologically fully formed when he met his first Americans, Ratzinger first observed them when he was 18. As a defeated German soldier, he spent three months in a pow camp but was then allowed to return home and witness one of the great modern acts of charity, the rebuilding of Germany by an occupying force that could just as easily have exacted revenge. Cardinal William Levada, the Californian whom Benedict tapped as his successor at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), says, "He's of a generation that remembers, gratefully."

I have tried to research this part of the Pope Benedict's life and it appears records are sketchy. It would be indeed to be interesting to see if the war department had any record of Pope Benedict when he was a former POW. However I suspect there are none. German men were being processed so fast in and out of these camps that I doubt even any American guards(if they are still alive) would have any recollection of one possibly shy 18 year old German out of the countless thousands that were coming through the camps.

What do know the basics that have been recounted in numerous papers. Such as we see in this News Article.
In 1943, like many teenage boys, he was drafted as a helper for an anti-aircraft brigade, which defended a BMW plant outside Munich. Later, he dug anti-tank trenches. When he turned 18, on April 16, 1945, he was put through basic training, alongside men in their 30s and 40s, drafted as the Third Reich went through its death agony. He was stationed near his hometown — he doesn't say where — but did not see combat with the approaching U.S. troops.
After he returned home, the Americans finally arrived — and set up their headquarters in his parents' 18th century farmhouse on the outskirts of the town.
They identified him as a German soldier, made him put on his uniform, put up his hands, and marched him off to join other prisoners kept in a nearby meadow. Taken to a camp near Ulm, he wound up living under the open air for several weeks, surrounded by barbed wire.

We know the Ratzinger went AWOL like countless Germans once the end was near. A move with some risk of death and in fact if not for the Grace of God perhaps almost indeed cost him his life as the above article mentions when he encountered the SS.

Pope Benedict home was in Traunstein. The U.S prisoner war camp was in Bad Aibling and then he was taken to another camp at ULM. I have often thought the fact that the family home was taken as a American Headquarters would have some mention in some military record. Perhaps there are records and no one has thought to look. I have always been a tad surprised that no WWII veteran that perhaps was there in the home has never come forward after making the possible connection. Perhaps they never did make that connection. It would seem likely that a few might still be alive.

What Americans showed up? I found this on the net at the World War II Historyof the 2nd Chemical Mortar Bn:
On May 1, 1945, the battalion less Co A was attached to the 3rd Inf Div. Co A was attached to 42nd Inf Div. Practically all resistance had ceased and the infantry was traveling rapidly.
The Bn CP was in Munich with the companies moving generally on the axis Munich-Salzburg. Very little firing was done during the month.
On May 3, 1945, the Bn CP moved to Traunstein, a fairly large town north of the Munich-Salzburg autobahn. The city had not been entered previously, so the battalion accepted the surrender of the garrison there, approximately 1000 Wehrmacht soldiers and two hospitals. Credit for capture of the town was given by XV Corps to the battalion.

Here my Louisiana readers is somethng of interest. It appears that a man from Baton Rouge has written of his fathers experinces in this battalion. Go see Finding My Father's War. There very well could be more information there if one was too look.

Also see the 20th Armored Division. Where we learn :
The 20th AD crossed the Inn River at Wasserburg May 3, 1945, entering Traunstein the very next day enroute to Salzburg. At that point, hostilities were ceased in Europe, giving the 20th AD only eight days in combat.


On May 4, 1945, Co C was given the detail of guarding and marching 25,000 prisoners to the Army POW cage in Bad Aibling.

Pope Benedict has only talked , from what I can find, just briefly about all this. Mostly in his book Milestones which were his memoirs from 1927-1977 and in Salt of the Earth; The Church at the End of the Millennium, an interview with Peter Seewald (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1997). An excerpt of that book can be found here as to Ratzingers thoughts on this period. I thought this was very interesting:
AT the end of April or the beginning of May(note- from the above military records it appears that Joesph Ratzinger must have made his run for it in late April since the town of Traunstien was surrendered to American Forces on May 3rd)— I do not remember precisely — I decided to go home. I knew that the town was surrounded by soldiers who had orders to shoot deserters on the spot. For this reason I used a little-known back road, hoping to get through unmolested. But, as I walked out of a railroad underpass, two soldiers were standing at their posts, and for a moment the situation was extremely critical for me. Thank God that they, too, had had their fill of war and did not want to become murderers.

Still, they had to find an excuse to let me go.

Because of an injury I had my arm in a sling, and so they said: “Comrade, you are wounded. Move on!” In this way I came home unhurt.

Sitting at the table were some of the English Sisters whom my sister knew well. They were poring over a map and trying to determine when we could finally count on the Americans’ arrival. When I walked in, they thought that the presence of a soldier would be a sure protection for the house, but of course the opposite was the case.

In the course of the next few days there lodged with us, first, a sergeant-major of the air force, an agreeable Catholic from Berlin who, following a strange logic we could not understand, still believed in the victory of the German Reich. My father, who argued extensively with him on this matter, was finally able to win him over to the other side.

Then two SS men were given shelter in our house, which made the situation doubly dangerous. They could not fail to see that I was of military age, and so they began to make inquiries about my status. It was a known fact that a number of soldiers who had left their units had already been hanged from trees by SS men. Besides, my father could not help voicing all his ire against Hitler to their faces, which as a rule should have had deadly consequences for him. But a special angel seemed to be guarding us, and the two disappeared the next day without having caused any mischief.

The Americans finally arrived in our village. Even though our house lacked all comfort, they chose it as their headquarters. I was identified as a soldier, had to put back on the uniform I had already abandoned, had to raise my hands and join the steadily growing throng of war prisoners whom they were lining up on our meadow. It especially cut my good mother’s heart to the quick to see her boy and the rest of the defeated army standing there, exposed to an uncertain fate, prisoners under the custody of heavily armed Americans.

We had hopes of being released soon, but Father and Mother quickly put together a number of things that could be useful for the road ahead, and I myself slipped a big empty notebook and a pencil into my pocket — which seemed a most impractical choice, but this notebook became a wonderful companion to me, because day by day I could enter into it thoughts and reflections of all kinds. I even tried my hand at Greek hexameters.

During three days of marching, we advanced on the empty expressway in a column moving toward Bad Aibling that was gradually becoming endless. The American soldiers liked especially to take pictures of us, the youngest ones, and also of the oldest, in order to take home with them souvenirs of the defeated army and the woeful condition of its personnel.

Then for a few days we lay about in an open field at the military airport of Bad Aibling, until were shipped off to an area of enormous farmlands near Ulm, where about 50,000 prisoners had been brought. The magnitude of these numbers apparently taxed the abilities of the Americans themselves. Until the end of our captivity, we slept outdoors. Our rations consisted of one ladleful of soup and a little bread per day.

AROUND the beginning of June the releases began, and every new gap in our ranks was a sign of hope.

The different occupations determined the order of release: farmers first, and last of all — because the least needed in this situation — students. Quite a few academicians understandably declared themselves to be farmers, and very many suddenly remembered a distant relative or acquaintance in Bavaria in order to be released into that region, because the American sector appeared to be the most secure and promising.
Finally it was my turn too. On June 19, 1945, I had to pass through the various inspections and interrogations until, overjoyed, I held in my hand the certificate of release that made the end of the war a reality for me, too. We were brought by American trucks to the northern edge of Munich, and then each had to fend for himself in finding a way to get home.

I teamed up with a young man from Trostberg, in the vicinity of Traunstein, to find our way home together. In three days we hoped to cover the 120 or so kilometres (75 miles) that separated us from our families. We planned to spend the night along the way with farming families, who would also give us a bite to eat.

We had passed Ottobrunn when we were overtaken by a truck, powered by wood gas and loaded with milk. Both of us were too shy to signal it, but the driver stopped on his own and asked us where we were headed. He laughed when we said that Traunstein was our destination, because he worked for a dairy in Traunstein and was now on his way home.

So it was that, unexpectedly, I arrived in my home city even before sunset; the heavenly Jerusalem itself could not have appeared more beautiful to me at that moment. I heard praying and singing coming from the church: it was the evening of the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. I did not want to create a disturbance, so did not go in.

I would love to know if that notebook that the then young Joseph Ratzinger kept it appears while a POW is still around.


I thought the most interesting part of his recounts In his book Milestones was when he said:
Hitler's death finally strengthened our hope that things would soon end. The unhurried manner of the American advance, however, deferred more and more the day of liberation. At the end of April or the beginning of May - I do not remember precisely - I decided to go home (op. cit., pp.35-36).

I have often wondered if also behind Ratzinger's apparent angst at the slowness of American troops were the fear of the Russians. At this point a good bit of Germany was going toward the American lines faster than the Americans were going toward them so not to be under Russian occupation.

If Pope Benedict has recounted life under American Occupation( he was in the American Zone) I am not aware of it. I think it would be fascinating to see his thoughts surrounding the West and Soviet moves such as those surrounding the event of the great Berlin Airlift for instance.