Mission at Nuremberg, Tim Townsend
Mission at Nuremberg, Tim Townsend
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Mission at Nuremberg
An American Army Chaplain and the Trial of the Nazis

Author: Tim Townsend

Narrator: James Anderson Foster

Unabridged: 11 hr 11 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 11/12/2019


Synopsis

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.

About Tim Townsend

Tim Townsend has written for the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, and Rolling Stone, among other publications. In 2005, 2011, and 2013, he was named Religion Reporter of the Year by the Religion Newswriters Association for his work at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. He is a Washington DC-based editor at Timeline.com.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Katherine on September 24, 2014

I ABSOLUTELY loved this book! Almost gave it less than 5 stars due to the first 100 pages being a little dry with Chaplain Gerecke's early biography info, but realized his early life was necessary to understanding the compassion and drive behind the man. The book is pretty tough (as are all books dea......more

Goodreads review by Lane on August 09, 2014

Reverend Henry Gerecke embodied every stereotype and cliche of a mild mannered, midwestern pastor, but has Tim Townsend demonstrated in Mission At Nuremberg, his outward appearance aside, he was an extraordinary man. Age 51 when a shortage of chaplains caused the Army to greatly increase the age of......more

Goodreads review by Maryellen on May 02, 2014

This is the first book I've read that lends any amount of human decency to the orchestrators of Hitlers most evil plan to establish the Pure Aryan race. I guess I always just thought of them as purely evil. However, to read that this Lutheran minister actually touched a little corner of the souls, s......more

Goodreads review by Tori on February 03, 2023

A lot of ideas and hard topics to tackle can be found to mull over in here. A slow start as you get the biographical side of the story before the war, but the latter half dealing with the trials and struggles of how one is supposed to try to save those who did horrific things is worth pushing throug......more

Goodreads review by Vontel on May 28, 2014

An interesting book about a challenging time in history and challenging people. The author was formerly the religion editor for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and comes at the book from that perspective, of exploring the life and work of the Lutheran pastor, Henry Gereke from the US, who was asked to......more