Mission at Nuremberg

An American Army Chaplain and the Trial of the Nazis

By: Tim Townsend

Narrated by: James Anderson Foster

Length: 11 hrs and 11 mins

Publisher's summary

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 50 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 21 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.

©2014 Tim Townsend (P)2019 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

Exemplary

I was able to hold back tears, until the last chapter. I am still speechless.

An essential source of Nuremberg trial history

Before you purchase this book, you should know that it's more of a biography of Chaplain Gerecke than something dedicated entirely to his duties regarding the first Nuremberg trial. Don't let that discourage your decision to add this book to your Nuremberg reading list, as anything less would not do justice to the Chaplain Gerecke whose devotion to basic Christian decency was so well-regarded by Nuremberg's and the rest of the world's worst, including the nazi Julius Streicher (who is without question one of the most loathsome men who ever existed) and the murderers and rapists of Illinois' most notorious prison paid their respects to him (and in the most surprising and heartwarming manner, to which you will read of in this book.)

This book provides another point of view into the most pivotal trial in the history of the world and does so very well. While I was a bit put off that it took a while to get there, I came to appreciate why whenever it did reach such a point.

Good story, wrong storyteller

This was a fascinating account of a chaplain from the Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod who ministered to Nazi war criminals. The narrator is clearly multi-lingual, doing justice to English, French, and of course German throughout. Tim Townsend was clearly the wrong man to tell this story, as his theological asides undercut or oppose the positions that the pastor he is writing about would hold. Liberal timelines and assumptions about theology are a poor fit for a book about a conservative pastor.

Great Story, Bad Theology

The historical account of the Army Chaplain and Pastor, itsel, is great. The author's theological commentary betrayed that story. Still recommend, but be wary when the author tries to assert what "all Christians believe."

What a picture of God’s grace

The mission at Nuremberg was so sad but also amazing at the Lutheran pastor’s grace that he gave to those men. I am so happy that some of those men came to Christ.