Topic summary
Joseph Ratzinger Sr.
Extracted from the Wikipedia article Early life of Pope Benedict XVI.
Background and childhood (1927–1943)
Joseph Alois Ratzinger was born on 16 April 1927 (Holy Saturday) at 11 Schulstrasse, his parents' home in Marktl am Inn, Bavaria, and baptised on the same day. He was the third and youngest child of Joseph Ratzinger Sr. (1877–1959), a police officer, and his wife, Maria (née Peintner) (1884–1963), whose family were from South Tyrol. His father served in both the Bavarian State Police (Landespolizei) and the German national Regular Police (Ordnungspolizei) before retiring in 1937 to the town of Traunstein. The Sunday Times described the older Ratzinger as "an anti-Nazi whose attempts to rein in Hitler's Brown Shirts forced the family to move several times." According to the International Herald Tribune, these relocations were directly related to Joseph Ratzinger Sr.'s continued resistance to Nazism, which resulted in demotions and transfers.