Soldiers, Commissars, and Chaplains

Reviews / Votes

As a former soldier of the National People's Army I have learned that ideological fanaticism can destroy every moral and human value. This brilliant analysis is worthwhile reading. It should motivate readers to think about human values and human rights in the world today. -- Colonel (Rt.) Hans-Werner Weber, senior adviser of the last defense minister of the GDR Herspring's thesis is interesting and important. . . . This work provides a good foundation for more focused studies of military responsibilities to civilian political authority. * CHOICE * To Herspring's credit, we finally have a ground-breaking treatment of military chaplains alongside their apparent Cold War counterparts of the Warsaw Pact. The reader is left with a very clear picture of how each type operated, not only within a historical context, but a political and operational ambient. Especially usefull is Herspring's use of comparison, his research in the original languages and primary source documents, and, above all, his excellent treatment of American military chaplains in chapter one. This chapter, if not the entire book, should be read by all who contemplate military ministry, and it should be required reading for all who take the oath as chaplains of the US Armed Forces. * Journal of Church and State * Professor Herspring covers a large piece of historic ground here, but he is a keen observer. This is a most worthwhile study, not only of the often overlooked role that political officers, commissars, and chaplains play in military organizations, but of their value as institutional weathervanes for understanding nature of the civil-military relations of a nation. * Journal of Military History * A valuable tool for the understanding of the underlying processes of change in Communist or totalitarian states, through the observation of their armies. * Journal of Slavic Military Studies *