Arthur Gaeth

An American who led the first Latter-day Saint mission in a Slavic country as a 24-year-old in 1929, then reported live from Nuremberg in 1946 on the execution of convicted Nazi war criminals, a broadcast held by Stanford University's Hoover Institution.

Researched by Muhammad Abdullah Al Yasin · 31 August 2026 · updated 17 September 2026

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Country: United States
Born: May 6, 1905, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; died April 15, 1984
Missionary service: Missionary in the German-Austrian Mission's Berlin and Vienna Conferences, 1926–1929; first mission president of the Church's Czechoslovak Mission, 1929–1936
Later career: Post-war journalist covering diplomacy and the Nuremberg war-crimes tribunal for the Mutual Broadcasting System
Archived papers: Personal papers (1923–1983) held at Brigham Young University's L. Tom Perry Special Collections
Nuremberg broadcast: 23-minute report, "The Executions at Nuremberg," catalogued as item 200-234 in the U.S. National Archives' "Voices of the Postwar Era" collection

Overview

Arthur Gaeth (6 May 1905 – 15 April 1984) was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at age eight in 1913 (Church History Biographical Database). He went on to lead the first Latter-day Saint mission established in a Slavic country before later becoming a radio journalist who reported live from one of the twentieth century’s most consequential trials. Set apart on 11 May 1926 by Church president David O. McKay, he served as a missionary in the German-Austrian Mission’s Berlin and Vienna Conferences until his release in May 1929 (Church History Biographical Database). Weeks later, on 24 July 1929, European Mission president John A. Widtsoe dedicated the land for missionary work in Czechoslovakia and called the 24-year-old Gaeth to preside over the new Czechoslovak Mission — the first Latter-day Saint mission in a Slavic country (Ensign Peak Foundation); the church’s own mission-level records independently corroborate the same founding date and his tenure through 11 June 1936 (Church History Biographical Database).

Building the Czechoslovak Mission

According to a Brigham Young University Religious Studies Center account, Gaeth’s mother was a Czech national who had years earlier received a patriarchal blessing promising that he would carry the gospel to her homeland; he was selected in June 1929 to lead the new mission together with five other missionaries under his direction (Religious Studies Center, BYU). He and his future wife, Martha Kralickova, purchased a villa in Prague that served as the mission’s headquarters. As mission president, Gaeth ran an active public-relations campaign: he gave radio broadcasts on 3 and 7 August 1929 announcing the church’s arrival, scheduled lectures at German educational institutions, and contributed newspaper articles about the church’s presence in the country (Religious Studies Center, BYU). The same account describes two libel suits Gaeth brought and won during his presidency — one after Catholic clergy accused missionaries of immorality and polygamy, and a second after a Prague Catholic newspaper alleged the missionaries were German spies, which resulted in a retraction and damages awarded to charity; no independent contemporary press source has been found to corroborate these suits (see “What this profile does not claim,” below). On 21 March 1931 Gaeth married Martha Theokla Kralicek, briefly returning to the United States for the wedding before resuming his mission service with her as his companion (Church History Biographical Database). He led the mission until his release on 11 June 1936 and departure from the field on 20 July 1936, by which point 128 people had joined the Church under its direction — a number that stopped growing once Nazi occupation began (Ensign Peak Foundation). One of the missionaries who served under him, Wallace F. Toronto — who would return in 1936 to succeed Gaeth as mission president — later recalled that Gaeth had “quite a journalistic disposition and a booming voice,” and remembered Gaeth weeping during Toronto’s own farewell address as a departing missionary (Religious Studies Center, BYU). In April 1950 Gaeth attended a Czechoslovak Mission reunion in Salt Lake City alongside fellow former mission leaders John A. Widtsoe and Ezra Taft Benson (Religious Studies Center, BYU).

From mission president to war correspondent

After the Second World War, Gaeth returned to Europe as a journalist covering post-war diplomacy. He reported live from Nuremberg, Germany for the Mutual Broadcasting System in a segment the U.S. National Archives catalogs as “The Executions at Nuremberg”: Gaeth described his earlier tour of the city prison and witnessing the hanging of convicted Nazi war criminals, recounting the final words of Julius Streicher (“The Bolshevists will one day hang you!”), Fritz Sauckel (“I die innocently.”), and Arthur Seyss-Inquart (“I hope that this execution is the last act of tragedy of the Second World War”), and concluding that “there were no cowards among these men” (National Archives and Records Administration). The National Archives catalogs the 23-minute recording, item 200-234, as dated 10 October 1946 — six days before the Nuremberg executions are otherwise widely documented, including by the National WWII Museum, as having taken place on 16 October 1946 (National WWII Museum); this profile reports that discrepancy rather than resolving it. A recording of the broadcast is held by Stanford University’s Hoover Institution under accession number XX625; the Hoover Institution’s own digital-collections record, Stanford University Libraries’ SearchWorks catalog entry, and the Online Archive of California’s finding aid all describe this same single item, sharing the same accession number and physical description, rather than three separate archival holdings (Hoover Institution; Stanford SearchWorks; Online Archive of California). His personal papers, spanning 1923 to 1983 — news reports, newspaper clippings, draft articles and photographs — are held at Brigham Young University’s L. Tom Perry Special Collections (Brigham Young University Special Collections).

What this profile does not claim

This profile does not assert a fully independent birth year: Brigham Young University’s own finding aid for his papers gives two different years (1905 and 1915), and while the Church History Biographical Database gives an exact birth date of 6 May 1905 — consistent with the separate, non-church account of him being 24 years old at his 1929 mission call — that database is itself a church-affiliated source, not a fully independent one. It does not resolve a six-day discrepancy between the National Archives’ cataloged date for the Nuremberg broadcast (10 October 1946) and the widely documented 16 October 1946 date of the Nuremberg executions the broadcast describes. It does not treat the account of Gaeth’s libel suits against Catholic clergy and a Prague newspaper, or the story of his mother’s patriarchal blessing, as independently verified: both rest on a single Brigham Young University Religious Studies Center scholarly account, and no outside contemporary press source has been found to corroborate the lawsuits’ dates or outcomes. Finally, it treats the Hoover Institution, Stanford SearchWorks, and Online Archive of California records for the 1946 broadcast as three catalog entries for one physical item, not three independent archival holdings.

Timeline

1926-05-11: Set apart by Church president David O. McKay for missionary service in the German-Austrian Mission; serves in the Berlin and Vienna Conferences until his release on 22 May 1929.
1929-07-24: European Mission president John A. Widtsoe dedicates the land for missionary work in Czechoslovakia; Gaeth, then a 24-year-old missionary already serving in Germany, is called to preside over the newly established Czechoslovak Mission — the first Latter-day Saint mission in a Slavic country.
1929-08-03: As the new mission's president, gives radio broadcasts on 3 and 7 August 1929 announcing the Church's arrival in Czechoslovakia, alongside lectures at German educational institutions and newspaper articles about the church's presence there.
1929–1936: Serves as the Czechoslovak Mission's first president, released 11 June 1936 and departing the field 20 July 1936; 128 people join the Church under the mission before Nazi occupation begins.
1931-03-21: Marries Martha Theokla Kralicek, briefly returning to the United States for the wedding before resuming mission service; she goes on to serve as his mission companion.
1946: Reports live from Nuremberg, Germany for the Mutual Broadcasting System on the execution of Nazi leaders convicted of war crimes, describing his earlier tour of the city prison; the National Archives catalogs the 23-minute recording as dated 10 October 1946.
1950-04-07: Attends a Czechoslovak Mission reunion in Salt Lake City alongside fellow former mission leaders John A. Widtsoe and Ezra Taft Benson.

What we could not verify

These claims came up in research and could not be confirmed. They are recorded here rather than published as fact or quietly dropped. If you hold a source that settles one, please tell us.

BYU's own archival finding aid gives inconsistent birth years for Gaeth (1905 in one place, 1915 in another). This profile follows 1905, which is corroborated by an exact birth date (6 May 1905) in the Church History Biographical Database and is consistent with a separate, non-church source describing him as 24 years old when he was called as mission president in 1929 — though the Church database is itself church-affiliated, not a fully independent source.
The National Archives catalogs Gaeth's Nuremberg broadcast as recorded "1946, October 10," but the Nuremberg executions it describes are otherwise widely documented — including by the National WWII Museum — as having taken place six days later, on 16 October 1946. This profile reports the National Archives' cataloged date as given and does not attempt to resolve the discrepancy.
The claim that Gaeth won libel suits against Catholic clergy and a Prague newspaper over accusations of immorality and espionage rests on a single Brigham Young University Religious Studies Center scholarly account. No independent contemporary press source has been found to corroborate the suits, their dates, or their outcomes.
The claim that Gaeth's mother received a patriarchal blessing years earlier foretelling his missionary call to Czechoslovakia comes from the same Religious Studies Center account and is a family/faith narrative that cannot be independently verified from outside church sources.

Sources

11 sources (4 tier 1, 6 tier 2, 1 tier 3), each opened and read against the claim it supports. Every source is independent of the subject; no first-party material is cited. See the source policy.

Several vital-record and chronology facts here — birth and death dates, exact mission dates, and his 1931 marriage date — come from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' own Church History Biographical Database, and additional detail on his 1929 public-relations campaign and legal disputes comes from a Brigham Young University Religious Studies Center scholarly account. Both are church-affiliated sources (the church he served as missionary and mission president) and are used here only for uncontested factual and chronological detail, not evaluative claims. The 1946 Nuremberg broadcast recording, by contrast, is independently confirmed by the U.S. National Archives and by Stanford University, with no institutional connection to the church. The Hoover Institution's digital-collections record, Stanford University Libraries' SearchWorks catalog entry, and the Online Archive of California's finding aid for that broadcast all share the same accession number (XX625) and describe the identical physical item — one archival holding indexed through three catalog systems, not three separate archives.

Arthur Gaeth radio news broadcast — Hoover Institution, Stanford University · Tier 1 Supports: Independent confirmation that the 1946 Nuremberg execution broadcast exists and is archivally preserved (accession XX625), with no connection to any church-affiliated institution.
Arthur Gaeth radio news broadcast, 1946 — Stanford University Libraries (SearchWorks catalog) · Tier 1 Supports: A second catalog record (same accession XX625) corroborating the same 1946 Nuremberg broadcast and its physical description.
Voices of the Postwar Era, 1945-1954 — National Archives and Records Administration · Tier 1 Supports: The catalog description of the Nuremberg broadcast itself — his prior tour of the city prison, the recorded final words of three executed Nazi officials, his closing line that "there were no cowards among these men," the recording's 23-minute length, and its catalog number (200-234).
Arthur Gaeth radio news broadcast, 1946 — Online Archive of California / Hoover Institution Library & Archives, Stanford University · Tier 1 Supports: Confirms, via a shared accession number (XX625) and identical physical description, that this finding aid, the Hoover Institution's digital-collections record, and the Stanford SearchWorks catalog entry all describe the same single archival item rather than three separate holdings.
Arthur Gaeth papers — Brigham Young University, L. Tom Perry Special Collections · Tier 2 Supports: His overall biography (missionary, mission president, post-war journalist), the scope of his papers, and his death year.
Arthur Gaeth | Church History Biographical Database — The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints · Tier 2 Supports: Exact birth date and place (6 May 1905, Milwaukee, Wisconsin), death date, parents' names, baptism date, and precise dates of his 1926–1929 German-Austrian Mission service and 1929–1936 Czechoslovak Mission presidency, including his March 1931 marriage date. A church-affiliated source, used only for uncontested vital-record and chronology facts, not evaluative claims.
Czechoslovak | Church History Biographical Database — The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints · Tier 2 Supports: Independently corroborates, from the same church database's mission-level record, the Czechoslovak Mission's 24 July 1929 founding date and Gaeth's presidency dates (24 July 1929 – 11 June 1936).
Immersing Himself in Bohemian Life — Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University · Tier 2 Supports: His 1929 public-relations campaign (radio broadcasts, lectures, newspaper articles), the Prague mission-home villa, the libel lawsuits he brought over accusations of immorality and espionage, and Wallace Toronto's description of him as having "quite a journalistic disposition and a booming voice."
Satan's Workers — Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University · Tier 2 Supports: Documents Gaeth's attendance, alongside John A. Widtsoe and Ezra Taft Benson, at a Czechoslovak Mission reunion held in Salt Lake City on 7 April 1950.
The Nuremberg Trial and its Legacy — The National WWII Museum · Tier 2 Supports: Independent confirmation that the Nuremberg executions took place on 16 October 1946, used to flag an apparent discrepancy with the National Archives' cataloged broadcast date of 10 October 1946.
Czechoslovak Mission Monument — Ensign Peak Foundation · Tier 3 Supports: The 1929 founding of the Czechoslovak Mission, Gaeth's age and role at the time, and the mission's early membership figure before Nazi occupation.

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