Elizabeth DuSold
St. Venantius Fortunatus Writing Group (co-leader) and St. Faustina Writing Group
After the collapse of the Third Reich at the end of World War II, the highest-ranking Nazi officials were put on trial in Nuremberg, Germany, before an International Military Tribunal composed of the victorious Allies: America, Britain, France, and Russia. The Nuremberg Trials have been the subject of numerous books, but Tim Townsend offers a unique perspective in Mission at Nuremberg: An American Army Chaplain and the Trial of the Nazis, his profile of US Army Chaplain Henry Gerecke.
In April 1945, with Russian troops surrounding Berlin, Adolf Hitler and Joseph Goebbels committed suicide in the Führerbunker. As Allied troops moved through Germany, the highest-ranking German officers and Nazi party officials were captured and imprisoned. Townsend relates that the generals and politicians, stripped of their military rank and party authority, “looked more like the tenants of a Bowery house than the recent leaders of a mighty nation.”
Under the Geneva Convention, prisoners of war are entitled to spiritual resources from their own faith tradition. The US Army operated Nuremberg Prison, and Chaplain Henry Gerecke, a Lutheran, was recruited to minister to the imprisoned men. Chaplain Gerecke spoke German and had an exemplary military service record. Gerecke had also served in a civilian prison before the war, although there was an obvious difference between “burglars in St. Louis and mass murderers in Nuremberg.”
Townsend, a former journalist, has a vivid, readable style that brings Gerecke’s daily work to life. For example, the reader accompanies Gerecke in his first approach to the cell of Rudolf Hess, former aide to Hitler and deputy Nazi Party leader. The reader can feel the tension as Gerecke worries about what he will say and whether his German is good enough. As Gerecke enters the cell, Hess extends his hand and Gerecke shakes it. He was later criticized for offering a handshake to the Nazi leaders, but Gerecke responded, “I knew I could never win any of them to my way of thinking unless they liked me first. . . . I was there as the representative of an all-loving Father. I recalled too, that God loves sinners like me.”
Over the course of the yearlong trial, Townsend follows the chaplain’s success at returning seven of the men to communion with the Lutheran Church. Even the men who rejected the chaplain’s Christian message held him in high esteem. When a rumor circulated that Gerecke’s wife was impatient for her husband to return home, all of the defendants signed a letter to Mrs. Gerecke asking that Gerecke remain until the verdicts were reached. The letter read, in part, “In this stage of the trial, it is impossible for any other man than him to break through the walls that have been built up around us, in a spiritual sense even stronger than a material one.”
In October 1946, the tribunal handed down the sentences: Eleven men were condemned to death by hanging, seven were given lengthy prison sentences, and three were acquitted. Townsend paints a sobering picture of Gerecke spending nearly all of his time with the condemned men in their cells as they awaited execution. Townsend leads the reader through the dark, early morning hours of October 16, 1946, as Gerecke accompanied the men to the gallows.
Townsend provides a robust portrait of Gerecke’s life before his assignment to Nuremberg and his military service in a hospital unit, as well as an interesting history of the role of the military chaplain. While this background is very helpful, it comprises nearly a third of the book and the reader may be impatient to get to the action at Nuremberg.
Townsend’s book is an important addition to the history of the Nuremberg Trials and he provides extensive footnotes on his source material. However, this book is not for a reader who is looking for details of the legal aspects of the trial. Nor does Townsend dwell on the horrific acts committed by the Nazi regime, which are well documented elsewhere. Townsend sketches each defendant’s background but does not provide details of their crimes.
Townsend attempts to put Gerecke’s ministry in context with a limited discussion of the Christian and Jewish concepts of forgiveness and repentance. The brief discussion may leave the reader confused by the weighty topic of whether those who have committed heinous crimes can be forgiven. The book is not intended as a theology text, but a deeper exploration of these topics would have given readers a better understanding of the chaplain’s motivation.
Townsend’s book is a fascinating behind-the-scenes look into Nuremberg Prison and the most notorious war criminals of the Nazi regime. The book is equal parts history and biography. Gerecke’s story challenges the reader to consider their own capacity for compassion and reconciliation: Can we forgive the unforgivable? Townsend provides a moving portrait of a humble man of sincere faith and ably demonstrates how one man can lead others to healing and repentance.