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| Thread: New Pope Chosen |  This thread is pages long: 1 2 · «PREV |
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Consis
Honorable
Legendary Hero
Of Ruby
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posted April 21, 2005 06:35 AM |
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*giggle*
The Emperor looks a bit younger than the new Pope.
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Roses Are Red And So Am I
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terje_the_ma...
Responsible
Supreme Hero
Disciple of Herodotus
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posted April 21, 2005 06:36 PM |
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Quote:
I'm not saying it's totally unreliable, nor that he was pro-nazi, I'd just be interested to hear how he managed to evade the authorities after he deserted. Given that he was of perfect military age (by Nazi standards at least) at the time, it would have been extremely hard to avoid being noticed and re-drafted.
Quite whether he was totally anti-nazi is anyone's guess and will probably never really be known. One suspects like most of his generation he simply had no choice.
From what I heard on the radio last night, he was 14 when he entered the Hitler Jugend in 1941. Judging both from his age and from the year, I say it's probable that he didn't do it volunteerly. I even heard about Jewish families who forced their sons and daughters into the Hitler Jugend/Bund Deutsche Mädchen, so that they wouldn't stand out...
So when a German kid managed to stay on the outside for that long, I guess it's accurate to assume that he didn't exactly have Nazi sympathies. Unless, of course, he found some and then entered the organization...
Oh, listen to me. Here I try to defend a conservative pope... I never thought this day would come. Maybe he's an Anti Christ after all? 
Speaking of criticism towards this guy, I read that even his own brother says it's a scandal that he was elected, considering his age and health condition...
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"Sometimes I think everyone's just pretending to be brave, and none of us really are. Maybe pretending to be brave is how you get brave, I don't know."
- Grenn, A Storm of Swords.
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privatehudson
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The Ultimate Badass
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posted April 21, 2005 06:42 PM |
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Quote:
From what I heard on the radio last night, he was 14 when he entered the Hitler Jugend in 1941. Judging both from his age and from the year, I say it's probable that he didn't do it volunteerly
What I'm talking about though is the period after he deserted. Germany at the time was dredging up manpower from wherever it could get it's hands on it, and I'd be very interested to hear how he avoided the authorities for at least 6 months (hard to tell exactly since there's no date on his 1945 capture by the Americans). It would have been very hard for an able bodied 17-18 year old to avoid being noticed at that stage of the war.
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We're on an express elevator to Hell, goin' down!
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terje_the_ma...
Responsible
Supreme Hero
Disciple of Herodotus
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posted April 21, 2005 06:47 PM |
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Well, at this stage of the war, refugees were streaming into Germany from the east, fleeing from the Soviets. Though I presume that the German recruiting officers went through these masses of human beings, it's not unlikely that he could have escaped notice...
But this is, of course, just guesses.
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"Sometimes I think everyone's just pretending to be brave, and none of us really are. Maybe pretending to be brave is how you get brave, I don't know."
- Grenn, A Storm of Swords.
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privatehudson
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Legendary Hero
The Ultimate Badass
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posted April 21, 2005 07:04 PM |
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From all accounts in books I've read in that period, it was hard to escape notice, the Feldgendarmerie were pretty darned thorough and didn't have any great problems in this respect even by 1945 for example if Beevor's book on Berlin is to be trusted.
I'd just be interested to hear what his story of the period is, unfortunately it never seems to have been raised seriously enough for him to tell it in any great detail.
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We're on an express elevator to Hell, goin' down!
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Consis
Honorable
Legendary Hero
Of Ruby
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posted April 21, 2005 10:35 PM |
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My Wager:
Quote:
It would have been very hard for an able bodied 17-18 year old to avoid being noticed at that stage of the war.
You are too kind. I'd wager it was impossible and that's why I don't hold it against him as a man today. The fact that he's Pope might go against him in contrary though.  I'll definitely hold that against him.
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Roses Are RedAnd So Am I
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terje_the_ma...
Responsible
Supreme Hero
Disciple of Herodotus
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posted April 23, 2005 05:25 PM |
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This article, which was printed in The Independent yesterday, is quite interesting, although the journalist makes some assumptions that are not quite called for...
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"Sometimes I think everyone's just pretending to be brave, and none of us really are. Maybe pretending to be brave is how you get brave, I don't know."
- Grenn, A Storm of Swords.
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