From 1927 to 1939: a happy childhood in Bavaria
Joseph was the youngest of three children: the eldest was named Maria, like their mother, and the youngest Georg. Two years after Joseph's birth, the Ratzinger family moved to Tittmoning in Upper Bavaria and then to Aschau am Inn. Joseph was a very cheerful and lively little boy, even though the Pope Emeritus himself explained that he gradually became "a little more pensive, less joyful," largely because of the war which "complicated everything."
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