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During the Second World War, the Soviet Union and United States both embedded specialists among soldiers to explain the meaning of the war and offer spiritual comfort. The U.S. Army relied on chaplains representing a variety of faiths, while the Red Army sent representatives of the Communist Party. Because mail was often soldiers’ only connection to family and friends at home, it became central to the work of both chaplains and commissars. In this talk, Title VIII Research Scholar Brandon Schechter will explore the ways in which chaplains and political workers inserted themselves into—and in many ways, helped shape—soldiers’ correspondence with loved ones.