Joseph Ratzinger in Bavaria 1951 - 1959

“My heart is Bavarian” – these words of Benedict XVI show the present Pope’s deep attachment to his native region. Whoever wants to understand Joseph Ratzinger is well advised to look into his Bavarian upbringing and background. Marktl, Tittmoning, Traunstein, Munich and Regensburg are the stations of his Bavarian upbringing and his early career.
Many stations in the life of the Ratzinger brothers were parallel. They had lived through the dark times of Nazi dictatorship. They were drafted as soldiers at the end of the war and became POWs after the German capitulation. Already in their boyhood, they had decided to become priests. They studied together at the seminary in Freising while also attending philosophy and theology seminars at the war-torn university of Munich. After their ordination, the young priests were assigned to churches in Munich and worked in parishes. However, their outstanding intellectual inclination led them soon back to academic careers and both eventually became professors at the venerable university of of Regensburg.
This article examines the decisive time from 1951 to 1959 of the future pope in his native Bavaria.