Saturday, November 22, 2014

Ministering to Nazis

Tim Townsend. Mission at Nuremberg: An American Army Chaplain and the Trial of the Nazis. New York, N.Y.: William Morris, 2014.

This is a fascinating book that examines the role of the Army Chaplain ministering to the Nazis on trial at Nuremberg. Many will believe that the crimes against humanity which these people were accused and convicted of were so great that they deserved no sympathy from any source. It is noted that the Chaplain decided “God loves all human beings, including perpetrators, and as the decision was made about how to minister to the Nazis, not whether they should.”

The book presents much information about the trials and the prisoners. Readers may find this interesting, From a religious perspective, it is interesting to observe that most of the Nazis except for Albert Speer attended chapel regularly. Most asked for their sins to be forgiven, according to Chaplain Henry Gerecke. One of the hardest aspects of the Chaplain’s job was speaking with the Nazis’ children.

Hermann Goerring refused to accept Jesus. Goerring stated “I can’t do that. This Jesus you always speak of---to me, he’s just another smart Jew.: Goerring committed suicide in his jail cell. Since Georring had denied Jesus, he was not communed,  

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