Mission at Nuremberg (49 page)

             
. “Period Report, Medical Department Activities, 1 Jan.–31 Dec. 1945, Munich addendum.” Memo. WWII Operations Reports, 1941–48. Medical. MDGH 97.0.3 to MDGH 98.1.13. Entry 427. Box 17283 Records of the Adjutant General's Office, 1917–(RG407). National Archives II. College Park, Maryland.

Sunday, Papers of William and Helen, 1882 -[1888–1957] 1975. A Guide to the Microfilm Edition. Ed. Robert Shuster. Billy Graham Center, Wheaton College. Wheaton, Illinois.

Taylor, Telford. “We Are All Worried.” Memo. 6 September 1945. TTP-CLS: Series 4; Subseries 1–2. Box LC4, Folder 5: “Memoranda July–October '45.” Telford Taylor Papers, Arthur W. Diamond Law Library, Columbia University Law School, New York, New York.

Technical Manual, TM 16–205: The Chaplain. U.S. Army. July, 1944. Cited in “The Military Chaplaincy of the U.S. Army, Focusing on World War II Chaplains in Combat” by Patrick G. Skelly. Ph.D. diss. Norwich University, 2007.

This Is the Life.
Short film. Lutheran Hour Ministries, 1952.

Trial of Major War Criminals (TMWC): Yale Law School Avalon Project: avalon.law.yale.edu/subject_menus/imt.asp.

Twelfth Army Group Headquarters. Memo. 13 February 1945. General Administrative Records, 1942–1957. Judge Advocate Division, War Crimes Branch. File: “Organization 1945.” HM1989. Box 1, “Organization 1943 thru Organization 1947.” Records of United States Army Europe (USAEUR). Record Group 549. National Archives II, College Park, Maryland.

U.S. Army Regulation 190–8: Enemy Prisoners of War, Retained Personnel, Civilian Internees and Other Detainees. Washington, DC: Headquarters Departments of the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, and the Marine Corps, 1997.

Visser, Jacob Carl. “Evangelism in the Military Chaplaincy.” Ph.D. diss. Nazarene Theological Seminary, Kansas City, Missouri. 1964.

Voigtländer, Nico, and Hans-Joachim Voth. “Persecution Perpetuated: The Medieval Origins of Anti-Semitic Violence in Nazi Germany.” Working paper. University of California Los Angeles. April 2011.

Wade, H. H. Staffs of the German Concentration Camps: Mauthausen. Record of the Office of the United States Commissioner, U.N. War Crimes Commission. NM–66. Entry 52K. File 153: United Nations War Crimes Commission, Research Officer. Wade file. General Correspondence (Red Files). National Archives Collection of World War II War Crimes Records (RG238). National Archives II, College Park, Maryland.

Waite, Robert G. “Gusen (with Gusen II and Gusen III).”
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos, 1933–1945. Vol. I: Early Camps, Youth Camps and Concentration Camps and Subcamps Under the SS-Business Administration Main Office (WVHA).
Vol. ed. Geoffrey P. Megargee. Part B. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2009.

             
. “Mauthausen Main Camp.”
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos, 1933–1945. Volume I: Early Camps, Youth Camps and Concentration Camps and Subcamps Under the SS-Business Administration Main Office (WVHA).
Vol. ed. Geoffrey P. Megargee. Part B. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2009.

Wilberding, Carl L. Letter to Henry F. Gerecke. 23 June 1943. Chaplains Reports and “201” Files. Entry 484. File: Gerecke, Henry F. Records of the Office of the Chief of Chaplains (RG247). National Archives II, College Park, Maryland.

Wittmer, George W. Letter to Army and Navy Commission. 2 June 1943. Henry F. Gerecke Collection. Concordia Historical Institute. St. Louis, Missouri.

Zittlow, Todd. Concordia Historical Institute, St. Louis, Missouri. 2009.

Zwingli, Ulrich. “An Exposition of the Faith,” 1531.

INTERVIEWS

Unless noted otherwise, all interviews were conducted by the author in person.

Black, Peter. Washington, D.C. 8 March 2008

Brinfield, John. Fort Jackson, South Carolina. 18 August 2010

Cash, June. Chester, Illinois. 12 July 2011

Collins, David J. Personal telephone interview. 7 December 2011

Dietzfelbinger, Eckart. Nuremberg, Germany. 31 August 2010

Frank, Niklas. Itzehoe, Germany. 5 May 2011

Fuchs, Moritz. Fulton, New York. 19 July 2011

Geist, Tom. East Meadow, New York. 10 March 2008

Gentsch, Don. Chester, Illinois. 12 July 2011

Gerecke, Hank. Cape Girardeau, Missouri. 4 January 2008

Gerecke, Hank. Cape Girardeau, Missouri. 2 February 2008

Gerecke, Hank. Cape Girardeau, Missouri. 20 August 2008

Gerecke, Hank. Cape Girardeau, Missouri. 21 October 2009

Gerecke, Hank. Cape Girardeau, Missouri. 26 June 2010

Gerecke, Hank. Cape Girardeau, Missouri. 30 October 2010

Gerecke, Hank. Cape Girardeau, Missouri. 23 March 2011

Gerecke, Hank. Cape Girardeau, Missouri. 30 June 2011

Gerecke, Hank. Cape Girardeau, Missouri. 13 July 2011

Harris, Whitney. St. Louis, Missouri. 26 April 2008

Jordan, Brian (Rev.) New York, New York. 21 June 2013

Kaul, Hans-Peter. The Hague, Holland. 20 August 2010

Kornmeier, Irene. Arnold, Missouri. 22 March 2011

Legow, Jerry. St. Louis, Missouri. 24 March 2011

Nischwitz, Ruth and Harvey. Gordonville, Missouri. 23 March 2011

O'Connor, John. Oxford, New York. 19 July 2011

Powley, Colette and Paul. Chester, Illinois. 12 July 2011

Schirach, Klaus von. Munich, Germany. 6 May 2011

Schneider, Georg. Nuremberg, Germany. 30 August 2010

Scholl, Travis. St. Louis, Missouri. 2010

Volf, Miroslav. Osijek, Croatia. 25 August 2010

Volf, Miroslav. Novi Sad, Serbia. 26 August 2010

Willig, Mark. (Rev.) Personal e-mail interview, 29 September 2011

Zentgraf, Henrike. Nuremberg, Germany. 30 August 2010

 

All Bible verses quoted in this book are from the New Revised Standard Version, the Jewish Publication Society's Tanakh Translation, or the American King James Version—the Bible Henry Gerecke read and used in his ministry.

Index

The pagination of this electronic edition does not match the edition from which it was created. To locate a specific entry, please use your e-book reader's search tools.

 

Abel and Cain, 247–51

age limits, for chaplains, 58, 60

agriculture, in Missouri, 22–23

Airborne League, 77

Aktion T4, 121

Aleutian Islands, 5, 31, 44

Allied Control Council (ACC), 246, 268, 287–88

American Civil War, 21, 23, 54–56

American Forces Network (AFN), 91–92

American Revolution, 52–54

Amun-Ra, 52

Andrus, Burton

appearance of, 97–98

background of, 2, 97

at Fort Oglethorpe, 97–98

Gerecke's promotion to major, 290, 306

at Mondorf camp, 98–103, 151–52

at Nuremberg prison, 103–5, 118–23

arrival, 103–4, 118–19

cremation of bodies, 287–88

daily prisoners' health check, 123

executions, 258, 269–72, 274, 275

family visits, 184, 190, 233–34, 235, 239, 254

Gerecke's arrival, 137

Goering's suicide and, 3, 268, 269

Keitel and, 1–4, 9–10

recruitment of chaplains, 96–97, 103–4

request for Gerecke's return, 290–91

request for Gerecke transfer, 96–97, 103–5, 117

Speer and, 253

suicides, 1–2, 3, 120–21, 122

Sunday services, 187

trial verdicts, 240–43

anti-Semitism

of Frank, 192

of Fritzsche, 178–79

in Nuremberg, 109–13

“On the Jews and Their Lies” (Luther), 109–10

Rintfleisch pogroms, 109, 110

scapegoating of the Jews, 109–12

of Schirach, 181

of Streicher, 101, 105, 157

Ardennes Offensive (Battle of the Bulge), 202, 209, 256

Ark of the Covenant, 52

Armenian Genocide, 218

Army and Navy Commission, 45–46, 58

army chaplains.
See
chaplains

Army Medical Corps, 64

Army Mortuary No. 1, U.S., 289

Army of Greater Virginia, 56

Army Regulation 350-1500, 61

Army Signal Corps, 276

Arnold, William R., 6, 49–50

Ashcan Camp (Mondorf-les-Bains), 98–103, 151–52

atheists, and Gerecke with the Ninety-Eighth, 76

atonement in Christianity, 260–61, 262

Augsburg Confession, 21–22, 24, 264

Augustine of Hippo, 220

Auschwitz concentration camp, 211–18

Austria, in World War II, 193–96

Austrian SS, 193–94

 

Babi Yar, 157

Babylonians, 106, 111

Badewitz, Albert, 215–16

Bad Tölz camp, 184–85

Barth, Karl, 62

baseball, World Series (1946), 4, 259, 266

baseball team, of the Ninety-Eighth, 80, 84

basketball team, of the Ninety-Eighth, 76–77, 80

Battle of Chancellorsville, 55–56

Battle of Concord, 52

Battle of El Alamein, 200–201

Battle of Lexington, 52

Battle of the Bulge, 202, 209, 256

Beer Hall Putsch of 1923, 141–42, 145, 256

beer rations, 116

Bender, Alma Isselhardt, 13–14, 16, 17, 19–20

Bender, Jacob, 13–14, 16

Bender, Virginia, 13, 17

Benedict XV, Pope, 57

Berchtesgaden, 149

Berlin bunker (Führerbunker), 133, 147–48

Berlin University, 175

Bernays, Murray, 126, 127–29, 132

Bethesda Hospital and Home for Incurables (St. Louis), 38

Bewley, Charles, 144

Bismarck, Otto von, 106

Black Death, 110

Bonhoeffer, Dietrich, 280

Book of Concord, 27

Bormann, Martin, 148, 222, 242

Boston Red Sox, 4, 259, 266

Bradley, Omar, 86, 136

“brand of Cain,” 247–49

bread and wine, in Christianity, 262–63

Briand, Aristide, 126

British Civilian Defense Organization, 74

British Women's Volunteer Services, 83

Brooklyn Dodgers, 259

Brunswick, Germany, 10

 

Cain and Abel, 247–51

Calvin, John, 22

Camp Ashcan (Mondorf-les-Bains), 98–103, 151–52

Camp Barkeley, Texas, 200–201

Camp Ibis, California, 201

Camp Mauthausen.
See
Mauthausen concentration camp

Camp Myles Standish, Massachusetts, 7

Camp Pall Mall, France, 86

Camp Pickett, Virginia, 66

Camp Polk, Louisiana, 201

cannibalism, at Mauthausen, 205

capella,
51

capellani,
51

Carinhall, 145–46, 147

Cash, Eric, 301–2, 306–7

Catholic chaplains, 49, 54, 56–57, 59, 70.
See also
O'Connor, Sixtus “Richard”

Catholic Church, 27, 56–57

Catholic University of the Sacred Heart (Milan), 138

Chamberlain, Houston Stewart, 181

chapelains,
51

Chaplain Corps, 5–7, 45–50, 55–58

“chaplain,” origin of term, 51

chaplains, 50–61.
See also specific chaplains

after American Civil War, 56

in American Civil War, 54–56

in American Revolution, 52–54

Catholic, 49, 54, 56–57, 59, 70

in Colonial America, 52

by denominational quota, 58

duties, 57, 59

first black army, 54

first female, 54–55

first Jewish, 54

history of, 52–61

Martin of Tours and origin of, 50–52

National Defense Act and, 56

providing religious support to enemies, 136–37

relationship between the divine and war and, 52, 60

requirements for, 58, 60

role in battles, 203

training, 60–61

in World War I, 56–57

in World War II, 5–6, 57–60

Chaplain School, 60–61

at Harvard University, 6–7, 48–50, 61, 65

Charlemagne, 106

Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor, 110–11

Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, 21–22

Cherry Hill Prison (Philadelphia), 120

Chicago Daily News,
303

Chicago White Stockings, 24

chlamys,
51–52

Christ Lutheran Church (St. Louis), 17–20, 41, 42–43

Christmas, 67, 82–83, 183–88

Chrysler Imperial, 73

Chrysostomos, 30

Churchill, Winston, 123–24, 126–27, 178

Church of the Nativity (Bethlehem), 184

CIA (Central Intelligence Agency), 81

Civil War, American, 21, 23, 54–56

Clayton, Phillip C., 257–58

Clement VII, Pope, 21

Colored Troops, United States, 54

concentration camps.
See also
Mauthausen concentration camp

Auschwitz, 211–18

Buchenwald, 101, 196, 204, 284

Dachau, 8, 94–95, 157, 195

Flossenburg, 204

Heydrich's design of system, 196

Janowska, 281

Concordia Seminary (St. Louis), 14, 15, 16, 31, 292

condoms, 75

Confederate States Army, 55–56

confessions,
27

Conot, Robert, 288

Constantine, 50–51

Conti, Leonardo, 121

Continental Army, 53–54

Continental Congress, 52–53

corn farming, in Missouri, 22–23

Corrie ten Boom, 293

Courage for Today
(radio show), 299

cremation of bodies, 287–89

Cressman, Samuel K., 84

Croner, Norwood, 266

Cross and the Swastika, The
(Grossmith), 176

Crowley, Paul, 220

cyanide, 215

Goering's suicide by, 3, 4, 151, 266, 267, 268

Czartoryski Museum (Krakow), 191

 

Dachau concentration camp, 8, 94–95, 157, 195

Dachau Trials, 255–56

dancing, 18, 65, 78

Daniel, Book of, 106

Daniel, E. Clifton, Jr., 130–31

Davidson, Eugene, 155, 172, 194

DDT (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane), 93

Dean, Gordon, 131–32

Dean, Patrick, 231

Death's Head Battalion, 196

Declaration of Saint James Place, 124

de Gaulle, Charles, 85

Der Stürmer,
101, 105, 157

Deuteronomy, 47, 48

Didache (Teaching of the Twelve Apostles),
262

Diet of Augsburg (1530), 21

Dillinger, John, 298

DiMaggio, Dominic “Dom,” 4

Diocletian, 50–51

divine, relationship between war and the, 52, 60

Dodd, Thomas, 230, 231, 241

Doenitz, Karl, 165–68

Gerecke and, 165, 167

in German Imperial Navy, 165–66, 168

Grossmith and, 176

as Hitler's successor, 85, 149

Nuremberg trial, 101, 166

Nuremberg trial verdict, 243, 245

Dorff, Elliott, 280–81

Douglas, Elsie, 183

Douglas, Stephen, 62

Dreesen, Hans, 130

Duke University, 61

Dunnottar Castle,
MS, 86

Dürer, Albrecht, 109, 112

 

Eagle Main (Allied staging area), 86

Eastern State Penitentiary (Philadelphia), 120

Eck, Heinz, 166

Edict of Milan, 50

education requirements, for chaplains, 60

Edwards, Jonathan, 56

Eggers, Carl, 103, 137, 140–41, 143, 259, 290

Eichmann, Adolf, 155, 193, 214

Eighth Virginia Regiment, 53

Eighteenth Amendment, 14

Eisenhower, Dwight, 85, 86, 100, 136, 151–52, 161–62

El Dorado Oil Field, 28–29, 30

Eleventh Armored Division, 200–209

Eliot, George, 29

Ellwanger, Walter, 32, 34, 37

Emmaus Evangelical Lutheran Church (St. Louis), 16, 17

Epenstein, Hermann von, 144

Erasmus, 183

Eucharist, 262–63

eucharistia,
262

Eugene of Savoy, Prince, 146

evangelism (evangelists), 24–25, 39–40, 55, 80

Evans, Richard J., 213

evil, defined, 219–21

extermination camps, 192–93, 211–12

 

Famous-Barr Co. (St. Louis), 31

Feddersen, A. P., 17

Fiéschorn Castle, 149

Fifty-Fifth Fighter Squadron, 91

firing squad, execution by, 246–47

First Reich, 105–6, 111

First Wisconsin Heavy Artillery Regiment, 55

Fischer, Peter, 108

Flossenburg concentration camp, 204

food rations, 116

forced labor, 172–74, 197, 198–99

forgiveness, 278–87

in Judaism, 278–81

Simon Wiesenthal and Karl, 281–86

For God and Country
(movie), 67

Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana, 61

Fort Jackson, South Carolina, 7, 64–68

Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia, 97–98

Fourth Council of the Lateran, 262–63

489th Automatic Weapons Battalion, 91

Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, 106

Frank, Brigitte, 233

Frank, Hans, 190–93

background of, 191

death by hanging, 274–75

in Nazi Party, 191–93, 228–30

at Nuremberg prison, 190, 193, 233, 237–39

Nuremberg trial, 101, 228–30

Frank, Niklas, 237–39

Frank, Norman, 238–39, 278

Frankel, Jacob, 54

Franklin, Benjamin, 53

Frauenkirche (Nuremberg), 111, 113

Frick, Margarete, 190

Frick, Wilhelm, 239, 244, 259, 277

Friedland, Captain, 84

Frischauer, Willi, 144

Fritzsche, Hans, 176–77

anti-Semitism of, 178–79

background of, 177–78

“brand of Cain,” 247–48

Keitel and, 232

in Nazi Party, 178–79

at Nuremberg prison, 184, 189–90, 223–25, 238

Christmas service, 186–88

Gerecke and, 8, 176–77, 179, 181–82, 186–87, 189–90, 223–25

letter to Alma Gerecke, 223–25, 343–44
n

Nuremberg trial, 7–8, 133, 177, 223, 227, 232

Nuremberg trial verdict, 242–43, 244

Führerbunker (Berlin bunker), 133, 147–48

Funk, Luise, 190

Funk, Walter, 133, 245

 

G-3 Combat Lessons Branch, 98

Gage, Thomas, 52

Galbraith, John Kenneth, 98

gallows, at Nuremberg prison

assembly of, 257–58

breaking down, 277

Frank's execution, 274–75

Jodl's execution, 275

Kaltenbrunner's execution, 273–74

Keitel's execution, 1–4, 9–10, 12, 272–73, 276

Ribbentrop's execution, 9, 10, 271–72, 273

Rosenberg's execution, 273–74

Sauckel's execution, 275

Streicher's execution, 274–75

Gamzu ya'avor,
63–64

Garbo, Greta, 146

Gateway Arch (St. Louis), 32

Geist, Thomas “Tommy,” 66, 69, 70, 77, 84, 91, 93–95, 113

Gemelli, Agostino, 138–39

General Commission on Army and Navy Chaplains, 58, 60

General Order 126, 55

Geneva Conventions, 117, 123, 136

genocides, 154–55, 192, 218–19

geopolitik,
141

Georgetown University, 157

Gerecke, Alma Bender, 13–20

army paychecks sent to, 72–73

death of Henry, 305–8

family life, 14–20, 43–44

Henry's fifteen-day leave and, 67

Henry's desire to join Chaplain Corps and, 5–6, 7, 46

marriage to Henry, 13–14

meeting Henry, 31

money as point of contention with Henry, 43–44

Nuremberg defendants' letter to, 223–25, 292, 343–44
n

Gerecke, Carlton “Corky,” 5, 16, 17, 18, 43, 44–45, 73, 92

Gerecke, Caroline “Lena” Kelpe, 24, 26, 31

Gerecke, Caroline Luecke, 23

Gerecke, David, 294

Gerecke, Fred Conrad “Fritz,” 24

Gerecke, Heinrich Friedrich “Henry”