Mission at Nuremberg: An American Army Chaplain and the Trial of the Nazis

by Tim Townsend Narrated by James Anderson Foster

Overview

Mission at Nuremberg is Tim Townsend's gripping story of the American Army chaplain sent to save the souls of the Nazis incarcerated at Nuremberg, a compelling and thought-provoking tale that raises questions of faith, guilt, morality, vengeance, forgiveness, salvation, and the essence of humanity.



Lutheran minister Henry Gerecke was fifty years old when he enlisted as an Army chaplain during World War II. As two of his three sons faced danger and death on the battlefield, Gerecke tended to the battered bodies and souls of wounded and dying GIs outside London. At the war's end, when other soldiers were coming home, Gerecke was recruited for the most difficult engagement of his life: ministering to the twenty-one Nazi leaders awaiting trial at Nuremburg.



Based on scrupulous research and first-hand accounts, including interviews with still-living participants, Mission at Nuremberg takes us inside the Nuremburg Palace of Justice, into the cells of the accused and the courtroom where they faced their crimes. As the drama leading to the court's final judgments unfolds, Tim Townsend brings to life the developing relationship between Gerecke and Hermann Goering, Albert Speer, Wilhelm Keitel, Joachim von Ribbentrop, and other imprisoned Nazis as they awaited trial.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

01/27/2014
Henry Gerecke, a Lutheran minister from St. Louis serving as an Army Chaplain at the close of WWII, received a startling opportunity: ministering to the Nazis who would be charged with war crimes at the Nuremberg Trials. Gerecke, who had given well-attended sermons for years, had also struggled during the war to bridge the divide between his country and his faith, refusing a request from Office of Strategic Services officials to extract information from prisoners during confession. Townsend, a three-time Religion Newswriters Association Religion Reporter of the Year, examines Gerecke’s struggle and the uneasy path toward prosecuting Nazi officials, with Churchill at one point recommending Nazi officials just be shot within six hours of capture rather than be prosecuted. Townsend’s account is full of surreal moments Gerecke witnessed during his time in Nuremberg, from watching a congregation full of Nazis singing “Silent Night” on Christmas to Goering’s last letter to his daughter, an innocuous note wishing her a happy birthday. Townsend’s accessible account captures the strangeness and horror of Gerecke’s assignment, and examines what it’s like to spend the day around men who had committed such monstrous acts. Agent: Eric Simonoff, William Morris Endeavor. (Mar.)

From the Publisher

Townsend’s account is full of surreal moments Gerecke witnessed during his time in Nuremberg” — Publishers Weekly

“Rich, potentially explosive. ... Townsend authoritatively addresses the excruciating moral and religious issues confronting wartime chaplains.” — Kirkus Reviews

“Gripping.” — Daily Mail (London)

“Engagingly told…Townsend illuminates a hidden gem of World War II history and brings to light the life and career of a truly heroic Christian man…an important book. It deserves a wide audience.” — Christianity Today

“A gripping story... puts the reader inside the cells of various Hitler henchmen.” — Wichita Eagle

“Sheds light on a little-known player in an iconic episode of world history. ... A well-written study about a subject matter that can’t help but hold a reader’s attention.” — America in WWII Magazine

“A dramatic story.” — Lutheran Quarterly

Wichita Eagle

A gripping story... puts the reader inside the cells of various Hitler henchmen.

Lutheran Quarterly

A dramatic story.

Daily Mail (London)

Gripping.

Christianity Today

Engagingly told…Townsend illuminates a hidden gem of World War II history and brings to light the life and career of a truly heroic Christian man…an important book. It deserves a wide audience.

America in WWII Magazine

Sheds light on a little-known player in an iconic episode of world history. ... A well-written study about a subject matter that can’t help but hold a reader’s attention.

Library Journal

10/01/2013
Just when you think there could be nothing new to say about the Nazis, here's a unique account that raises pressing moral and spiritual issues. After serving as a U.S. Army chaplain, Lutheran minister Henry Gerecke was asked to minister to 21 Nazi leaders standing trial at Nuremberg, among them Hermann Göring and Joachim von Ribbentrop. Townsend was thrice named Reporter of the Year by the Religion Newswriters Association; with a 50,000-copy first printing. Big new thrillers from two veterans, set in New York City and FloridaNovelist Ackroyd revisits Sixties London; two New York Times reporters track a war criminal

Kirkus Reviews

2014-01-09
In his first book, Townsend, a writer and editor with the Pew Research Center's Religion and Public Life Project, examines World War II's most unusual ministry: the pastoring of the architects of the Third Reich. On Nov. 20, 1945, the Allies commenced the Nuremberg Trials, an unprecedented proceeding that charged Hitler's top lieutenants—Goering, Kesselring et al.—with conspiracy to commit crimes against humanity. Due to the strict security surrounding the prisoners, the Chaplain Corps was called upon for the first time in its 230-year history to supply religious counseling to America's enemies. Assigned to this controversial task since he was Lutheran (like so many of the German prisoners), spoke the language and had experience with prison ministries, Chaplain Henry Gerecke (1893–1961) worked for nearly a year to rescue the souls of some of history's most notorious defendants. Gerecke's prewar life story, a quick review of the Chaplain Corps' evolution, scene-setting to explain the Nuremberg tribunal's composition and mission, thumbnail sketches of the Nazi henchmen and a recitation of the atrocities they engineered, and prison life for the war criminals are all part of Townsend's story. However, he focuses most on Gerecke's delicate interactions with his highly unusual flock. Passages recalling the middle-aged St. Louis preacher's counseling of Goering (and the decision to deny the Luftwaffe commander Holy Communion) and Gerecke's first meeting with Rudolf Hess are especially well-done. Townsend authoritatively addresses the excruciating moral and religious issues confronting wartime chaplains and deftly explains the role of a spiritual adviser in bringing the wrongdoer, even one seemingly beyond redemption, back to "a place of restoration." Gerecke's story is only a footnote to "the trial of the century," but Townsend thoroughly understands and skillfully handles the rich, potentially explosive material it contains.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940174035942
Publisher:	HighBridge Company
Publication date:	11/12/2019
Edition description:	Unabridged

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