Pope Benedict XVI was pungently critical of Nazi Germany on a bridge-building visit to a synagogue today, condemning the "insane, racist ideology" that inspired the Holocaust.

The German-born pontiff, who was briefly conscripted to the Hitler Youth during his childhood in Bavaria, described the Nazi extermination of Jews as an "unimaginable crime" in a ten-minute address which was given a standing ovation by the congregation in Cologne.

Paul Spiegel, the leader of Germany’s Jewish community, said he was "extremely impressed" by the speech, adding: "He condemned the crimes of the Nazis without any ifs or buts."

The 78-year-old German pontiff pledged at his inauguration in April to follow the example of his Polish predecessor John Paul II in building closer ties with the Catholic and Jewish faiths.

At the start of his historic, hour-long visit to the synagogue - only the second in the 2,000-year history of the papacy - he prayed alongside Cologne’s Chief Rabbi Netanel Teitelbaum at a memorial to the six million victims of the Holocaust.

Dressed in white, the pope acknowledged that the history of relations between Christians and Jews had been "complex and painful", but said that dialogue between them was crucial to crush resurgent anti-Semitism.

"It is a particularly important task, since today sadly we are witnessing the rise of new signs of anti-Semitism and various forms of a general hostility towards foreigners," said Benedict.

The pope said that co-operation between the two religions had improved in the four decades since the Vatican document Nostra Aetate (In Our Time) changed the Catholic Church’s relationship with Judaism, for the first time formally rejecting anti-Semitism.

But he said much remained to be done. Differences between the two faiths would remain, not reconciled but mutually respected.

He said: "We must come to know each other much more and much better. Consequently I would encourage sincere and trustful dialogue between Jews and Christians, for only in this way will it be possible to arrive at a shared interpretation of disputed historical questions, and above all, to make progress towards a theological evaluation of the relationship between Judaism and Christianity."

But Benedict XVI said such discussion should not "gloss over or underestimate the existing differences" between the religions. It was in precisely such areas of divergence that "we need to show respect for each other".

The Vatican’s treatment of Jews during the Middle Ages, as well as its record of good relations with the Nazi regime during the early years of the Holocaust, has long been a bone of contention between the two religions.

During his speech, the pope himself mentioned the expulsion of the Jews from Cologne in 1424, even though it was the oldest Jewish community in Germany.

The Pope's conciliatory words did not however go far enough for at least one of his listeners.

Abraham Lehrer, a senior figure in the Jewish community, called on the Pope to fully open the Vatican's archives on the Holocaust. The archives contains correspondence to wartime Pope Pius XII, which may throw light on the extent to which the Catholic church was aware of the Nazi efforts to deport and exterminate Europe’s Jews.

As former head of the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger had allowed the release of some of the documents in 1998. To this proposal for a further release of material he however made no reply.

Herr Lehrer 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 the history of their troubled relations. He told the Pope: "As leader of the Catholic Church, you have a special responsibility. Your actions serve as a model for the Church."

Jewish groups have strongly opposed plans set in motion by Benedict’s predecessor John Paul II to elevate wartime pope Pius XII to sainthood, claiming he did little or nothing to prevent Jews from being deported.

The synagogue in which the Pope gave his address was one of many razed to the ground during the 1938 Kristallnacht pogrom. It was rebuilt two decades later by Holocaust survivors.

Confronting and repairing the damage to relations between the two faiths may take longer.

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