Pope Visits Holocaust Memorial

photo by Pier Paolo Cito AP

VIENNA, Sept. 7 — The German-born Pope Benedict XVI offered a silent prayer at the spare Holocaust memorial at Judenplatz here today, saying earlier that his visit to Austria was aimed partly at showing “repentance” for crimes against Jews during World War II.
He visited the memorial, inscribed with the names of the 65,000 Jews killed in Austria during that time.At the memorial on Judenplatz, blooming with umbrellas against the rain, Benedict met with the chief rabbi, Paul Chaim Eisenberg, and other leaders of Vienna’s 7,000 remaining Jews. In 1938, the city was one of Europe’s thriving Jewish centers, where some 185,000 Jews lived.
He added, “I would not say all these difficulties have been overcome, but I hope I can be of some help in healing the wounds.”