Ratzinger biography hitler jugend

The new Pope, German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, served in the Hitler Youth during World War II when membership was compulsory, according to his autobiography.

But his biographers say he was never a member of the Nazi party and his family opposed Adolf Hitler's regime.

Ratzinger's experiences during World War II have been a source of controversy in some newspapers which probed the German Cardinal's past when he became a frontrunner to succeed John Paul II.

In his autobiography Milestone: Memoirs: 1927-1977, Ratzinger said he and his brother Georg were both enrolled in the Hitler Youth when membership was obligatory.

Founded in 1922 and based in Ratzinger's native region of Bavaria, the Hitler Youth was a paramilitary organisation of the Nazi Party.

It was disbanded in 1923 but re-established in 1926, a year after the Nazi Party was recognised.

Members of the Hitler Youth wore uniforms resembling those of