Pope Benedict XVI called Friday on Jews and Christians to act together ''in order to prevent the wicked forces ever come to power."

He condemned the "unimaginable crime" of the Holocaust as well as a resurgence of anti-Semitism and hostility towards foreigners.

He made the statement in a 10-minute address to 500 persons who attended a special ceremony on the occasion of the first visit to the Cologne synagogue by a German pope. He began his speech with a "Shalom Lechem", or "Peace to you" in Hebrew, to the audience.

All dressed in white except his red shoes, the Pope, who is in Germany in the framework of  Catholic World Youth Day, was warmly welcomed by the city's Jewish community.

Painful history

Benedict XVI is the second pope in modern history to visit a Jewish temple

Acknowledging that the history of relations between Christians and Jews had been "complex and painful", the Pope stressed that dialogue was more important than ever in the face of resurgent anti-Semitism. 

"It is a particularly important task, since today sadly we are witnessing the rise of news signs of anti-Semitism and various forms of a general hostility foreigners," he said, receiving a standing ovation.

“Your visit is a step towards peace between the people of the world,” Cologne’s rabbi Netanel Teitelbaum said earlier to the Pope. 

Benedict XVI began at noon his one-hour long visit by joining the Kaddish, the Jewish prayer for the dead, at a memorial in the hall of the synagogue for the 11,000 Cologne Jews who died during the Holocaust. 

The Pope spent part of his teens as an "unwilling" member of the Nazi Hitler youth organization and later served in an anti-aircraft unit before deseerting.  

500 persons, including German Interior Minister Otto Schily, were present in the synagogue when the Pope arrived amid tight security measures. Several hundreds persons waited for  the Pope outside the synagogue located on the Rohnstrasse, in the center of Cologne.

Special skullcaps

A member of the Jewish community looks at people entering the synagogue prior to Pope Benedict XVI's visit Photo: AFP

At his arrival at the synagogue he was greeted by Michael Rado, head of the Cologne Jewish community. He entered the synagogue welcomed by a Christian peace song sung by the choir. Except for Catholic bishops, the audience wore blue kippas (skullcaps) especially made for the pontiff's visit.

In his address to Benedict XVI, Abraham Lehrer, a member of the synagogue’s board, stressed the “enormous political significance of this visit.”

“You are building a bridge between Judaism and Christianity, which was started by your predecessor John Paul II," he added. 

Using unusual direct words, Lehrer called on the pontiff to "fully open" the Vatican's archives on the Holocaust. He said he would welcome such a move as a "further sign" of the Vatican's goodwill towards the Jewish community and allow both sides to continue "peaceful and critical" examination of their troubled relations.  

Watching sometimes with closed eyes, Benedict XVI followed every word with an expression of highest concentration. The Pope was seating on a wooden throne next to a giant menorah, the seven-branched candelabrum.

Pillars of peace

Benedict XVI is greeted by Cologne's Chief Rabbi Natanael Teitelbaum into the Synagogue

In a very emotional moment, Rabbi Netanael Teitelbaum pointed to the mother of Abraham Lehrer who was sitting in the audience and told the Pope :"Your visit is of the highest importance for her. When she was in Auschwitz in 1944 she had not the power to imagine that her son would welcome the Pope in a synagogue."

Teitelbaum explained the five pillars of peace in Jewish faith, then offered Benedict XVI his five fingers, his open palm and the peace of the Jewish people, before leading him to his place to speak to the audience.

The 78-year old pontiff  was only the second pope in modern history to visit a Jewish place of worship after John Paul II in the Rome synagogue in 1986.

The Cologne synagogue was rebuilt two decades later by survivors of the Holocaust which killed six million Jews.

The pope received as a present from the Jewish community a shofar,  the ram’s horn which is blown like a bugle on holidays. For his part, he handed a facsimile of a rare Vatican document from the 4th century, the "Codex Vaticanus", which containts extracts in Greek of the Old and New Testament.

"The Pope looked very impressed even frail and timid when he entered the synagogue, Chantal Reich, a member of the Jewish community told EJP.

"He gave the feeling of a boy entering into the office of a school director," she added.

"Although his speech was generally politically correct, one point made me enthustiatic when he spoke about the mutual respect between Jews and Christians, which differs from the ancient church's speech trying to convert people," she said.

Paul Spiegel, President of the Central Council of Jews in Germany,  said he was extremely impressed by Pope's speech.

"I was extremely impressed by what he said and how he said it. He condemned the crimes of the Nazis without any ifs and buts," Spiegel told German ARD television station.

"When I returned to Germany in the summer of 1945, I would have never believed that 60 years after I would be able to see a pope in a German synagogue."

"I think Benedict XVI wants to make it clear that he wants to go further down the path trodden by his predecessor Pope John Paul II," Spiegel had told the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper.

Spiegel said it was crucial that Benedict was visiting "as a German in a German synagogue, whose community was almost completely wiped out by the Nazis and where there is now new life. He will be there when the Jewish prayer, the Kaddish, is spoken," for the victims of the Holocaust.

"This is an historic event for the Jewish community, for the Catholic Church and for the whole of Germany."

According to Jan Ilan Simon, another member of the local Jewish community, "this was probably one of the most harmonious meeting between Jews and Christians in history."

"I think the Pope went in his address even further than his predecessor toward Jews," he said.   

The Jewish community in Cologne, said to be Germany’s oldest, numbers around 5,000, most of them recent immigrants from the former Soviet Union.

Still irritated

Chaim Levit, the Rabbi of the German city of Bremen said that Benedict’s visit could "help us in the fight against terrorism in Israel", adding that he was still irritated by the pope’s failure last month to mention attacks on Israel when condemning recent terrorist attacks in other countries.

Siegfried Halstenberg, a German Catholic who was waiting outside the synagogue for the pope to appear, said he thought the visit "will help to reduce the conflicts between the great religions, and I hope that it will contribute to developing tolerance."

"All dialogue helps us to understand each other better. This visit has a great importance in the world where there are more and more conflicts."

At the end of the ceremony, the Pope handed personally medals to 15 deserving members of the Jewish community. Simon Reich, one of these persons, told the Pope in German: "What will my Italian patients say when they will see that I shaked hands with you?" The Pope responded in Italian : "Oh ! Your are doctor?" Reich continued the conversation in Italian and told Benedict XVI he studied in the city of Padova.