List of Nuremberg interpreters? October 1, 2014
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Uncategorized.trackback
I had an interesting comment today on a post from 2009 entitled Wishing translators and interpreters a Happy International Translation Day. The gentleman heard a BBC Radio 4 broadcast about International Translation Day, googled it, and must have stumbled on my blog. He states that his former father-in-law served as a translator/interpreter at the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials, but since he refused to talk about his experiences the family is not sure. He asked if a list existed of the Nuremberg interpreters and translators. A bit of googling led me to discover there were six interpreters, twelve translators, nine stenographers for each of the four languages, totaling 108 people. However, I wonder if a list exists. It is definitely an interesting question. If anyone knows of a resource please let me know. Thanks. And I hope you all had a good International Translation Day. I enjoyed a 90-minute massage this afternoon and processed a bushel of Roma tomatoes. I had the day off since the job I am working on this month needs to be re-DTPed. I just love it when umlauts aren’t recognized and “l”s are output as “i”s, don’t you?
Musings from an overworked translator 
One might try writing to http://www.yadvashem.org/ for information.
Shalom and happy Translation Day from a former Hebrew-English translator.
This is a very interesting question, Jill. So far I have managed to find only a list of interpreters from the Soviet team. Their names are mentioned in the book about Nuremberg by J. Gofman (in Russian).
На Нюрнбергском процессе синхронными переводчиками с немецкого языка на русский работали Е. А. Гофман, С. И. Дорофеев, Т. Ю. Соловьева, Е. Е. Стенина (Щемилева), Т. С. Ступникова.
Синхронный перевод с английского языка осуществляли И. М. Кулаковская, Э. М. Мамедов, Т. А. Рузская, О. А. Трояновский.
Синхронный перевод с французского вели Н. Л. Еселева, Н. В. Орлова, М. А. Соболева (Бердникова), К. Ф. Стариков, К. В. Цуринев.
http://coollib.net/b/196248/read
Would you mind transcribing the names for those people who don’t read Russian (I’m thinking specifically of the gentleman who asked the question in the post)? Thanks.
Sure, please see below:
Interpreters from German into Russian: E. A. Gofman, S. I. Dorofeev, T. Yu. Solovieva, E. E. Stenina (Tschemileva), T. S. Stupnikova.
Interpreters from English into Russian: I. M. Kulakovskaya, E. M. Mamedov, T.A. Ruzskaya, O.Ya. Troyanovskiy.
Interpreters from French into Russian: N. L. Eseleva, N. V. Orlova, M. A. Soboleva (Berdnikova), K. F. Starikov, K. V. Tsurinev.
It is also mentioned in the book that a grand-nephew of the great Russian writer, Lev Tolstoy, was working as an interpreter for the French delegation. The Russian group of the American interpreters was headed by Tatiana Trubetskaya.
Excellent! Thank you.
Fascinating question! I once wrote a paper on the interpreters at the Nuremberg trials for a university course and here are some of the names I came across during my research: Patricia Vander Elst (née Jordan), Peter Less, Wolf Frank, Peter Uiberall, George Wassiltchikoff, Elisabeth Heyward, Leon Dostert, Sigfried Ramler, Edouard Roditi, Haakon Chevalier, Stefan Horn, Armand Jacoubovitch, Frederick Treidell, Marie-France Skuncke, Evgenia Rosoff, Youri Klebnikov.
I never found a complete list of names. AIIC is probably the best place to contact for more names.
My grandmother Ludka Prymka, was also a translator at the trials. They also asked her to witness their hangings.
I was told my grandfather, Harvey Obermiller was a translator. I believe he was asked to be a witness as well.
In your list you mention a Wolf Frank. I am wondering if, instead, it could have been Grete Wolf. According to everyone I have met in my husband’s family, and the few relatives of his mother, my husband’s mother, Grete Wolf, was one of the simultaneous translators (German, French, English) at the trials. Probably during the main military tribunal as that is when my father-in-law (then courting Grete) recognized and pointed out Ohlendorf – and that’s how he was caught. I wrote more about this to Elke – who has contributed so much on this blog. If you have any additional information, it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
As an ad-on: I found out that my mother-in-law (who had also been in the Kinder Transport and was sent to England) also had to wear an officer’s uniform while she did her translation. I am trying to encourage my husband to find a picture of her as there are interpreters faces that apparently still have no names. I was mistaken about my father-in-law who I said pointed out Ohlendorf – however he recognized him and gave testimony against him at the trial, as well as some others.
Shalom to all. It is really nice how the names are coming together here.
I received this reply today from Yad Vashem in Jerusalem:
“The Yad Vashem Archives do not have list of translators of the Nuremberg trials.
We would suggest to turn to the National Archives NARA
http://www.archives.gov/
Best Wishes for a peaceful New Year
Karin Dengler
Reference & Information Services
Yad Vashem”
Hello – there is a family story that my great-uncle Harold Israel (1909 – 1984) was one of the translators, but we’ve no proof. If anyone comes across his name I would be most interested.
Interesting topic.
I once met a lady who lived in Bermuda called Ali Bloch, she told me that she was a translator at the Nuremberg trials. She was an avid orchid collector and had a real zest for life, one of the nicest people I ever met. She had some link also to the Gestetner family who I believe were of Hungarian origin.
David
Hello David, I am writing my thesis paper on the interpreting of the Nuremberg trials, and as I am from Hungary, I was looking for a translator or interpreter with Hungarian origins. Could you please tell me a little bit more about Ali Bloch, so maybe I could find her, it would be very interesting to include her in my paper.
Flora
Hello Flora, I found your message expressing interest in Nurenberg translators with a Hungarian background. I am aware of a lady from Budapest who escaped before the Red Army surrounded the city and went to be a translator “for Eisenhower” at Luneberg, and presumably also Nurenberg. After WW2 she emigrated to Australia and married my cousin in Australia. If this note reaches you and you are still interested I will send details. Trevor
Hello Trevor and Flora, I’m reading this rather late, but maybe you are still interested in an answer. I am the curator of the exhibiton on the Simultaneaous interpreters at the Nuremberg Main Trial (details: 1trial-4languages.org) and the associated research. Our records do not indicate any mention of the name Ali Bloch, neither as translator nor interpreter nor court reporter nor typist. Which does, of course, not mean that she was not at Nuremberg. There is mention of one couple of Hungarian origin whose name was Sandu-Paul Apoteker and Nicole Apoteker. The spelling of the last name varies between Apoteker and Apotheker. Aparently he translated into German and she into French. From the first names I would guess that he was a Hungarian Jew with German roots and married a French woman. We do not know anything else about them and the existing personnel directories do not list any other Hungarians in the language section. I hope this helps a little. Best regards Elke Limberger-Katsumi
Armand Jacoubovitch’s granddaughter (Miranda Richmond Mouillet) has written a book called ‘ A Fifty-year Silence’. It was a compelling story and history and since I wasn’t aware of Armand’s role at the Nuremberg trials it cast a new light on the horrors of WWII.
From the 1950s into the 1980s my family and I (all German) were in
frequent contact with Mr Waldemar Heidtke from Milwaukee, Wis. This gentleman served as an interpretor at the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials. While there is no doubt about the correctness of this information, today, now that Mr Heidtke passed away long ago, we rue not having interviewed him more closely on his experience. We
do recall him telling us he dealt with A. Speer and his proving this by giving us a photo showing him together with Speer After Speer’s release from Spandau prison.
Question: Can anyone give us more information about Mr Heidtke’s
activities? Your kind response would be much appreciated.
Here’s a letter Waldemar H. Heidtke wrote to a newspaper in 1965 about having worked as a translator at the main Nuremberg trial:
https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=vgMaAAAAIBAJ&sjid=EyQEAAAAIBAJ&pg=2213%2C1076661
Waldemar Heidtke was my great uncle. We have a signed copy of Albert Speer’s book, Inside the Third Reich, as well as a detailed scrapbook from his time as a translator during the Nuremberg trials. He told us many stories.
Susan, how interesting! Will you publish your great uncle’s scrapbook? What a treasure! I would love to read such marvel. I am a Court Interpreter and I am writing a paper about the Nuremberg trials. It is a part of history which find captivating, we believe my mother’s relatives died in the Holocaust without trace. I often travel to Nuremberg, and each time I visit Courtroom 600. I sit there in silence and let my imagination go back in time. Honestly I feel the energy go through my body. Good evening from Georgetown Texas.
Yolanda Wheaton
Hello to everyone interested in the interpreters at the Nuremberg Trial,I left some comments a long time ago saying that we – aiic (International Assoc. of Conference Interpreters) has a project plus exhibition on the simultaneous interpreters at the Nuremberg Trial. See our website at 1trial-4languages.org. We continuously do further research on this topic. Sadly one of the 4 survivors passed away on 9 Oct.. It is ever more pressing to collect everything that is still around in the form of oral or written history. We just had a large show in Geneva and the program included a panel with relatives of ‘Nuremberg Interpreters’. Thanks for all your input.
Somehow my blog doesn’t show the comments by Yolanda Wheaton. Can these be repeated, or can you tell me why I didn’t receive them? I don’t know what else I may be missing. Thanks.
I was and still am literally sequestered in my appartment in Geneva (I am handicapped and the elevator in my building is being replaced, a five-week job) so I could not go to that exhibition at Uni 2, to my huge regret. I also learned about it only the day before, so there was no point in my sending a photo of my mother at that time and an article about her being chosen to be one of the interpreters at the trials.
.
Dear Vierotchka, It is so sad that you could not visit us at the Geneva exhibition. Knowing you were so close by and we could not get in touch is quite upsetting. As I said in previous posts we are still looking for many names of simultaneous interpreters at the IMT. Maybe your mother is one of those we are looking for. What was her name in 1945-46? What was her nationality and which languages did she speak? Do you know from when to when she was in Nuremberg? And do you have a photo or even photos? I could then check whether we have any other information and could determine what exactly she did. You can contact me here or via the contact email on our project website 1trial-4languages.org. Looking forward to hearing from you. Elke
Elke, shall I send a scan to you of my mother-in-law’s U.S. Army ID card (with photo) along with the copy of her British ID card showing when/from where the US Army brought her from England back to Germany to work, as all in my husband’s family has said, to be a simultaneous translator? So far, your group seems to have no knowledge of her by name. She was in England, having been sent out from a town in western Germany, as one of the oldest in the kinder transport. Trained in England as a nurse, then hired by the US Army for translation purposes. I tried some time ago to upload the documents to this website, but was unable to make that work. I also have pictures of my father-in-law from that period, around the time he helped identify Ohlendorf. And my husband just had the 4-hours of Alfred’s Shoah tapes converted to DVD’s. Do you think we should send a copy to the project in Nurnberg? You can write me directly at: franwinter@westat.com. Thank you.
My mother’s name at that time was Ariadna Mouravieff. She was working at the first Trial, she was a British civilian officer. She married my father in 1946 and became Ariadna Narishkin. Her languages were English, German, Russian and French. I believe she translated and interpreted from German into English.
Hi Susan Tosch! I am an italian interpreting-student and I am writing my thesis about the role of interpreters and translators at the Nuremberg trials. I never came across that name before, so I would be very interested in sharing your great uncle stories in my thesis, if you would agree to that!
Have a nice day,
Miriana Migliozzi
Hello,
My name is Cheryl Huerlimann. My grandfather also named Hurlimann, was from Milwaukee also. He passed before I was born. But my mother told me about him being a interpreter or translator and the story how it came to happen. If you have any information or would be greatly appreciated.
Hi Cheryl, I am very interested in listening your grandfather’s story. I am an interpreting student and I am writing my thesis paper about the unnamed interpreters at the Nuremberg trials. If you were willing to share your family story with me, I would very much appreciate it.
Here’s my email address:
m.migliozzi1@studenti.unint.eu
I would also be interested. My father told me that he was an interpreter at Nuremberg but little else. His name was John G. Lowe
My high school German teacher, Reinholdt Kieslich, told us he was a Nuremberg interpreter. Another teacher at the same school (Punahou School in Honolulu) was Siegfried Ramler, whose role as an interpreter is documented on the Web.
We knew a lady in Bismarck, North Dakota, born about 1931-32, Dolores M. Koller, who said she was a Nuremberg interpreter or translator. Seems a bit young.
Could she have been Dolores Koller who lived in Neenah, Winnebago, Wisconsin in 1940? She was a stenographer and born in 1919. According to 1940 census.
My mother’s uncle was said to have been a translator at Neuremberg also. His name was Col. Hugh R. Schwecke. Is there a chance that more information on the trials will be released as we pass the number of years necessary for privacy and security?
My grandmother, Antoinette Aronin, was a translator/interpreter for the Nuremberg trials. She was born in Romania, educated in Switzerland, emigrated to the U.S. and married a Russian Jew. Since she was widowed, when her American-born sons were serving in the Army during WWII, she volunteered as an interpreter. I know she was fluent in several languages but I don’t know which languages she translated.
My uncle, Bernard Brener, was said to be a translator/interpreter for the Nuremberg trials as well. He was American-born, and, if I recall my mother’s stories, was present during Baldur von Schirach’s interrogation. A list of the Nuremberg interpreters would prove helpful.
Growing up I lived across the street from a Nuremberg iterpreter named Gregory Lee Hill and even saw him on a war documentary on tv years ago.
I can’t find any information about him or his family now, including anything about his work at Nuremberg.
I am trying to find out information about our Great Uncle William Dorn, who was an interpreter/interrogator at the Nuremburg trials. He was American born, German to English interpreter who had such difficulties with what he discovered from the trials that he broke ties with the rest of the family. The family were all very involved with the Lutheran faith and he became an agnostic. Any information would be appreciated
My maternal grandfather, god rest his soul, was a German interpreter at the Nuremberg war crime trials. An ad was posted in the Milwaukee Journal accepting applications for interpreters. My grandfather was chosen out of around 100 people. He spoke fluent German, English, Swiss, and Sweetsadeuch (sp). Though my family missed him terribly, we we’re all very proud of him. I know I’ve told many people over the last 48 years the story of my grandpa and how proud I am.
I am told that my first cousin, once removed, Joseph Radojcsics, was a translator at the Nuremberg Trials. That first generation (which included my Dad) spoke German before they spoke English. It was apparently not the “High German” of the upper class, but rather “Low German.” I am told these were actually two quite different languages, I suppose akin to English & Cockney. In Joey’s obituary, it stated he was a translator & Dad always said so as well. I don’t know if this is correct…are there any definitive published lists? I tried to find one on this site, but couldn’t. Any help would be appreciated.
My husband’s father was an interpreter at the Nuremberg Trials. His name was Joseph E. Goeser. Lived in Miami FL after coming back from Germany until his death in 2008.
Hello, I just came across this. We, the German region of AIIC, have put together an exhibition on the Nuremberg interpreters in 2013, done more research on it and expanded the exhibition which has been shown in various places already. If you want to know more, go to our website at profession-of-interpreting.org. There is a lot that we still do not know, but we are getting better. Maybe I should say that we concentrated on the simultaneous interpreters, not those that interpreted during the questioning outside the courtroom. I hope that this can answer a few questions.
My father Henry Maengen told me he was a translator at the trials. My father was in the U.S, Army at the time, Jewish and stationed in Germany. So his skills were used at the trials. He has since passed away however. I wish I had asked him more about his experience.
My father, Eric Simha, was an interpreter at the trials working for the US Army. He passed away in 1986.
Hello, I just came across this interesting string of comments. Reflections on the history of interpreting and interpreters at the main Nuremberg trial (there were 12 subsequent proceedings, which may explain why some of the people mentioned by relatives in this series of comments did work at the Nuremberg trials) can be found, among other sources, at:
*Francesca Gaiba (1998) The Origins of Simultaneous Interpretation. The Nuremberg Trial. Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press. (The most complet work on the subject)
*This article by Wadi Keiser, available at: https://www.erudit.org/revue/meta/2004/v49/n3/009380ar.pdf
*Jesús Baigorri-Jalón (2016 /2004 /2000) From Paris to Nuremberg. The birth of conference interpreting. Amsterdam / Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
https://benjamins.com/#catalog/books/btl.111/main
I am still interested in the subject and would like to know if any of the participants in the conversation, such as Andre Simha, whose father’s name was mentioned to me by many UN colleagues, keep any records or memorabilia.
I have just come across this string of comments. Some of the testimonies I’ve read on the participation at the Nuremberg trials by observers’ relatives may be explained by the fact that there were 12 subsequent Nuremberg trials (only English-German) after the main military tribunal. In my view the best book on interpreting and interpreters at the main Nuremberg Trial is:
*Gaiba, Francesca (1998) The Origins of Simultaneous Interpretation. The Nuremberg Trial. Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press.
Other references:
*this article by Wadi Keiser:
Click to access 009380ar.pdf
*the book Baigorri-Jalón, Jesús (2016, English edition) (2004, French edition) (2000, Spanish edition) From Paris to Nuremberg. The birth of conference interpreting. Amsterdam / Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
I am interested in this subject and in the history of interpreting in general. If any of the readers has kept records (documents, photos, etc.) from their relatives, please let me know (baigorri@usal.es). Eric Simha was often mentioned by colleagues at the UN when I was working on the book Interpreters at the United Nations (2004) Salamanca: Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca.
I used to work at WHO Hq in Geneva in the office that hired interpreters for conferences. I remember Eric Simha who was an interpreter at the Nurembourg trials. I think Hélène Pfaendler was another, and possibly Gedda Prejsman. Both ladies were also interpreters at WHO.
Dear Ms Collier,
I just saw your comment in this conversation. Further down I have explained about AIIC’s project ‘One Trial – Four Languages’ (profession-of-interpreting.org). We have tracked many of them down, including Mr Simha. We know about one Helen, but no futher details, maybe she married and was then called PFaendler. Does WHO keep records on their interpreters, so one could find out? Another one was Norbert Berger, but we know nothing about him, other than that he worked in Geneva. There is one interpreter called Marc Priceman who later worked for the UN in New York, that is the only Preijsman we have come across. Do you think the WHO archives would reveal some more information?
Thank you.
Elke
My wife’s family has long believed that my late father-in-law Francis Ian Hamilton Wood, an aeronautical engineer who was fluent in German, had been an interpreter or translator at the Nuremberg Trials. I was once told that the Wiener Library in London might have a complete list but have yet to follow this up.
I e-mailed the library to see if they in fact have a list of names. I will post my response once I hear back.
I received a reply from the Wiener Library and they do not have lists of interpreters at their library. The suggest contacting the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C.
Bernie, did your father by chance speak Czech? I recently met a woman in the Czech Republic who had testified at the Nuernberg Lebensborn trial. I thought she said her interpreter was “Mandel,” but it might have been “Maengen.” She remembers that he was an American soldier and was very kind to help her prepare for the trial. They had a small reunion when he visited her village after the war.
My uncle, Joseph Millner from Detroit was a interpreter. After the trials were over he worked for Ford Motor Co.
I am also trying to find information on my Uncle Julius Fewer. I was told he was a translator at the Nuremberg Trials, but that is all I know.
My mother Ethel Terhaar was the only WAC at Nuremberg Trials, she went there as a translator. She wrote all about it, I have never read it but one of my sisters has it and I would like to read it. I’m not sure of the name of the book on the trials my mother once showed me but it had a picture of her with other people standing around a piano singing Christmas songs.
Here is another link to the list of translators.
http://nuremberg.law.harvard.edu/documents
Marie-Anne Garnier (1921-2007), my mother, officiated as an interpreter at the Nuernberg trials. She spoke both French and German perfectly (hailing from Lorraine) and later added English and Dutch to the list of languages she commanded with extraordinary ease and fluency. She was an early member of AIIC and worked for many years as a distinguished translator and interpreter, including for Euratom and the Common Market organizations in Brussels for 2 decades.
It would be great to confirm that Marie-Anne Garnier was on the simultaneous interpreting team at the main Trial (1945-46). Would you, D. J. Stom, have any photographs or records from your mother?
I have seen newsreel footage of her sitting in one of the interpreters’ booths within the court room at Nuernberg’s Palace of Justice.
She is mentioned in 2 publications / directories that I know of, though not explicitly as an interpreter; she is listed under ‘Marie-Anne Garnier’ as one of 33 research and documentary analysts assisting the prosecution counsel in the “Ministries Case” (USA vs. Ernst von Weizsaecker, et al.) between October 1946 and April 1949, and she appears as ‘Marie A. Garnier’ in the list of civilian personnel actively engaged in the trials as of January 1948 by the Office of Chief of Counsel for War Crimes [OCCWC] and the Office of the Secretary General [for Military Tribunals].
Note that she married D.J.C. Stom in 1951, and was a very active member of the AIIC for over a half century since its inception as ‘Marie-Anne Stom-Garnier’.
If you come across additional information about my mother’s contributions during the trials, kindly advise!
Thank you, Mr. Stom, for the information. Do you have the reference to the footage you mention? That would probably allow to clarify the context in which your mother worked in interpreters’ booths: the main Trial or the subsequent proceedings.
Thank you for your interest. I last saw that news clip many years ago and have been trying to find it again. Any assistance anyone can supply in this matter, e.g. accounts and/or pictures re: the French simultaneous interpretation team during any of the phases of the IMT, would be greatly appreciated!
Dear Mr Storm, As my colleague Jesús has already pointed out, we would need to have a photo to be able to identify her. The personnel list does not give the people’s occupation as you already stated. There are films taken on several trial days on You Tube that you can watch. They frequently show the interpreting booths, maybe you will recognize your mother and greatly help us with this. Jesús and myself are both members of aiic and have been on a project on the Nuremberg interpreters for some time. You can read all about it on profession-of-interpreting.org. We are desparately looking to identify more of the simultaneous interpreters and it would be great, if you just helped us find one!
Thank you Ms. Limberger. My brother and I are viewing all footage of the trials we can find in a attempt to isolate a clear shot of our mother in the French booth. We’re not certain yet about whether she was part of the French team during the main IMT and/or just one or several of the subsequent NMTs. Do you or anyone you know have a list of the set of six French interpreters on duty during the main trial? As I mentioned in an earlier posting, she is listed as a contributor to the prosecution for case no. 11 of NMT IV in 1948. I’ll be back in touch when I uncover more veritable info and would greatly appreciate any assistance you may be able to lend to this quest!
Also, are there any archives of AIIC members? All I have been able to find in a couple of mention of my mother’s name in an article published by Henri Methorst who she met in Holland in 1952 or so and with whom she then worked on many occasions over several decades as an interpreter for numerous recurring conferences. He, she and another colleague by the name of Margie Leenheer-Braid were long-time friends as well as colleagues. Here again, any insight you can bring to this topic would be much appreciated!
Mr. Storm, Names like Génia Rosoff, Jean Meyer, Marie-France Skuncke are well known as interpreters from the French delegation.
The following book mentions very collaterally the activity of the author as an interpreter at Nuremberg, but he was probably assigned to one or more of the subsequent proceedings:
Handrich, Emmanuel: La Résistance… Pourquoi ? Souvenirs des deux guerres et de déportation à Buchenwald 1914-1918 et 1939-1945, Paris 2006.
To be continued…
Yes, thank you; I have come across those names. Hopefully we will manage to ascertain whether or not Marie-Anne Garnier (later ‘Stom-Garnier’) was a colleague of theirs during the IMT.
Do you know of any archived lists of AIIC members from the early/mid-50s?
AIIC’s central office would be the right place to ask about old directories. I’m sure they will be able to track your mother’s name in old members’ lists:
Contacting AIIC Headquarters
Our international secretariat will be happy to answer your questions about AIIC and AIIC membership in French or English:
International Association of Conference Interpreters
46, avenue Blanc
CH-1202 Geneva
Switzerland
P: +41 22 908 15 40
F: +41 22 732 41 51
E: info@aiic.net
Opening hours: 8:00-17:00 Geneva time
Reply to Mr Stom and everyone who is wondering whether a person they knew was indeed a (simultaneous) interpreter at the IMT,
As pointed out some time ago, AIIC has this project on ‘One Trial-Four Languages’ trying to trace these interpreters. The project website is profession-of-interpreting.org. You can also contact us through there.
Now particularly about Ms Garnier who quite certainly was there: do you have a later photograph of her? If you sent me one (or several) I can go through the photos we have of the court room and other situations and try to recognize her. There are some female faces in the French booth for whom we still do not have any names.
Thanks for helping us with our research,
Elke
Thank you for the link to that interesting AIIC project, Ms. Limberger. I do have a clear picture of my mother (Marie-Anne Garnier,1921-2007) from circa 1945. Shall I use one of your AIIC-associated email addresses to transmit that to you?
Wonderful. Youz can use elke@katsumi.eu or the contact email on the website of profession-of-interpreting.org. Getting really excited….
I’m not sure if I’m answering within the correct framework, and I am doing it off the cuff, but I can confirm that Gedda (or Hedda) Prejsman is Mark Priceman’s sister. She spelled her name differently. She was an interpreter all (or most) of her professional life, in Europe, but also in the early days of the profession in the US (I saw once a photo where she appeared with colleagues at a conference in the East coast, but I haven’t found the photo again) and in Israel (even before its independence), where she spent a good part of her life, as far as I can remember.
Pfaendler rings a bell as someone who taught interpreting, probably at the Geneva school, but I should have to check sources.
Jesús
My late father Charles Thomas Olivier Hunneybell was a british soldier captured at Lille in France fighting rear guard for the Dunkirk evacuation, his army number was 5499989 in the Kings Own Royal regiment, he was marched to Upper Silesia in Poland and was in Stalag 8B / 344, he was working as slave labour in a saw mill/ wood yard, when he escaped with another and made contact with the Czechoslovak resistance, he was with them until a Gestapo officer recognised him and he was recaptured and tortured, among other things thay pulled his teeth out with a pair of pliers. He was again imprisoned, and i believe possibly released by the soviets.
Point of the story is, he always hated Germans and never spoke about the war but was said to be one of the translators at the Nurumburg trials, i never realy believed that until shortly before his death we were talking with German friends, and he asked to speak to them, he then spoke at length to my friend in German, and after the lengthy conversation i asked my friend if everything was all ok (knowing my fathers hatred for Germans), but he said it was incredible, my father spoke fluent German and he could have been speaking to his own father, so i have always wondered if he was also one of the many translators at the trials?
My uncle E. Weijenberg told me he was a translator during the Nuremberg trails and has done much more for the Allies between 1940 and 1955 that time, see the video. Who knows more about my uncle? https://youtu.be/ElqxqM9KEsU
Hi everyone, I understood from my father that he also worked as a translator at the Nuremberg trials. So I´m also interested to find the list to very.
Dear Mr Morton, As I have pointed out several times, there is no complete list of the interpreters and translators who worked in Nuremberg. We could try to find out whether we know anything about him. Was he a translator or an interpreter, from when to when was he in Nuremberg. What was his exact name and do you have a photo? Also check our project at profession-of-interpreting.org Best Elke
I understand from family stories that my father, Sylvester Stenger, was a translator or interpreter at the Nuremberg Trials. Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1922, he had been in D-Day as part of the 90th Division. After the war was over he was asked to stay for the trials because he spoke German, as well as English. He told us that he had to wear an officer’s uniform while interrogating the German prisoners. That is all I know. How can I get more information about what he did? Any help would be appreciated.
My mother Elfriede Klara Myers (nee Voll) grew up in Nuremberg during the war and used to show us her scars from the firebombing of Nuremberg when she was buried in rubble for about 3 days before being rescued. She would have been 20 in 1945, and was completely fluent (read, write, speak) in 7 languages – she would inadvertently shift between languages when talking at the dining room table when I was a kid. She told my brother and I that she served as an interpreter during the trials. She spoke English accent-free, which was remarkable. I’ve always wanted to find more information about this – I THOUGHT I saw a picture of her in one of the Trials pictures but could never be sure…
What a shame that more accurate rosters weren’t kept of the many individuals who worked so hard to help bring justice to the world. This would have brought much satisfaction to their families today – but of course, that wasn’t an objective. My husband thinks he saw his mother, too – but also isn’t sure. Pity.
Computer trouble. Have I just sent you message re Wolf Frankl?
Yes, but comments are moderated and I’m slammed with work and didn’t see it until now.
A Wolf Frankl was a U.S. guard at the Neuremberg Trials. !n the 1990s he lived in Charlottesville in the U.S.A.
Does anyone have information about Ruben Ainstein? He was a polyglot, fluent in Russian, Polish, Lithuanian, German, English and several other languages. Born in Vilno, he studied at Brussels University before reaching Britain in 1943 where he joined the RAF From 1949 until 1966, he worked for Reuters and the BBC. In 1974, he published ‘Jewish Resistance – in Nazi-Occupied Eastern Europe’, but the contents of his book offended and made him bankrupt before his death in 1979.
Russia rejected ALL evidence provided by the Poles, deeming it ‘unreliable’. They possibly feared that the truth about the Katyn Forest would come to light. The contents of Ainsteins book suggest that he had access to that Polish evidence. Was he at Nuremberg?
Very interesting project! I would love to know where the exhibit will be in San Francisco. Our family story is that my grandfather, Ira Aaronson, spoke several languages, worked for the Immigration and Naturalization Service, and also was an interpreter at Nuremberg. I would love to see some evidence. I could send you a photo for identification, or can you point me to some photos to check?
Thanks for doing this research!
My mother, Ariadna Mouravieff (who married my father in Luneberg in 1946 and became Ariadna Narishkin) was one of the interpreters and translators at the Nuremberg trials. The photo is from 1945:
Over the years, everyone in my husband’s family that I met (& most have passed away) talked about his mother and how she had been a simultaneous translator at the trials. She worked for the Americans and wore a uniform that seems to have been similar to the one your mother wore. We are trying to find a picture of her to send to Germany so they can identify her as one of the few yet to be identified. If your mother is still alive, could you ask her if she remembers a Greta Wolff, originally from western Germany? Thank you! Fran
Unfortuately, my mother passed away in November 1985. Were she alive today, she would be 105 years old!
My mother was British. She had been working for MI5 in New York – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Security_Co-ordination – and then, after WWII, she was chosen to be a translator and interpreter at the Nuremberg Trials.
Although you might not be able to make it out in this photo, on her epaulette it is written “Civilian Officer”. The photo is from 1946, when she was working at the Nuremberg Trials:
https://imageshack.com/i/33mummy219462xyj
And here is a photo from a newspaper clipping, in French, about my mother:
There is a photo of my mother in this newspaper article:
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/50252973
Hi
Just came across this today. I found this link which mentions the translators.
Btw-my dad was chief interpreter at the U.N. headquarters from 1946 to 1956- Georges Rabinovitch
Joana Rabinovitch
https://books.google.pt/books?id=qP2PQkhDVbcC&pg=PA151&lpg=PA151&dq=georges+frank+un+interpreter&source=bl&ots=5m6rgEjoTR&sig=JmYJOOWevyDX-z7C9E4yGKqsPGM&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwja09jSs7_eAhWCNcAKHQTrDAAQ6AEwB3oECAAQAQ#v=onepage&q=georges%20frank%20un%20interpreter&f=false
My late father, John-Louis Merle told me that he was at the Nuremberg trials as an interpreter/translator for French/English. If anyone his able to validate this I would grateful.
Thanks
My grandfather, Cambreth Kane (German mother, Irish father, first school, Normandy, France) was one of them.
In the only extant photo he is second from the left at the top, there is a slightly confusing ghostly reflection between him and first figure.
The photo was not attached. Can you attach it and send again?
More about him (and me)
I was referring to this photo.
I believe, but I am not certain, that in that photo my mother is second from the left, bottom row.
Sorry for the delay in approving his photo. WordPress didn’t send me a notification that I had a comment to approve.
He will have been translating between German and English, but he was almost as fluent in French, as he was educated in Normandy and Brussels for the first years of his life until he took up his scholarship and St Paul’s in London, utterly trilingual and rather pleased with himself.
I imagine that did not go down well. Quite apart from his parentage.
People who know the faces are dying out.. My younger sister was too young to remember his face. We need to collect all we can while we can – which is why I included a lot of back story.
Thank you, Jill, for keeping open this blog.
Fran Winter
He is looking straight at the camera. He is unmistakable. There is a confusing face in profile between him and the man on the extreme left, which seems like a reflection.
Dear Steve, I see my uncle in this small picture, are you able to mail me a bigger photo ? Thanks, Frank Dammers
That is about as good as it gets
I suggest that you do a reverse image search on Google images or similar, you may find one that is a bit better.
Thank you, Steve.
🙂
I keep hoping that in one of the pictures that gets posted, my mother-in-law will appear. I am married 31 years but never knew John’s mother who died relatively young. While all my husband’s relatives of that generation are now gone, everyone I had met knew that his mother, Grette Wolff, had been a translator, worked for the Americans, and had worn a uniform while doing so. She was fluent in 3 languages. A box of photos came to us a while ago that we haven’t gone thru yet. Perhaps we’ll find something from those days in there.
This ties in with the figure I saw of 24 interpreters (simultaneous translators) in all.
My grandfather (Cambreth Kane) was one, having a German mother and Irish father.
The fact that he was also fluent in French, having started his education in France and Brussels, must also have been useful.
But I can’t believe that there is no list in existence.
The site of the tribunal seems to have very little interest in the events, largely trading on it merely to further their current activities.
There seems even to be a feeling that it’s all a bit embarrassing.
My grandfather never talked about it but was then inspired to study law and be called to the English bar. In his late fifties.
Hi Steve, I would like to talk more about this. I am currently writing a thesis about the unknown faces of Nuremberg, and your story seems really interesting.
Could you maybe send me an email?? Or maybe write here your email? thank you!!
m.migliozzi1@studenti.unint.eu or miriana.migliozzi@outlook.it
I understand Lisa Ferraday a Romanian born actress was a Nuremberg translator. Born 1921 Elisabeth De Mezey. The original Woolite Girl. Passed Palm Beach Fl. 2004.
Years ago, I had a “work mom” as we call them now named Sibylla Johanna Herma Pohl Hollander Hood Anders It is my belief from her comments she was a Neuremberg translator or transcriptionist
Can anyone confirm for me? I dearly loved that woman
Yesterday, going thru some papers my husband received after his father died, I found 2 documents. It proves she was recruited by and worked for the U.S. Army from May 12, 1946 until January 6, 1948. As I’ve told you before, my husband knows, and other relatives told us, that his mother, Grete Wolf (maiden name) worked as a simultaneous translator for the US Army during the Nuremberg Trials. She had been sent out of Germany to England as one of the oldest in the Kindertransport and was fluent in a few languages. The UK Certificate of Registration shows that, while working there as a nurse (on p.22, bottom), she “Reports departure for Germany: with …” what looks to me like “Civ. Censorship Dept. Group B.A.P.O.751U.S. Army on 7-8-46.” Signed C. Robertson R.G.O. of the Metropolitan Police “X” Division, Harlesden.
We know she wore a uniform while working. I am hoping, as we go thru more papers, that we will find more information and photographs that will link her as a translator.
Can anyone tell me how to get this information to the appropriate organization?
For some reason, I was unable to copy in my scan. I don’t know how that fellow put his newspaper photo in here previously.
Thank you,
Fran Winter
franwinter@westat.com
My grandfather was an interpreter at the Nuremburg trials. He was German and spoke 5 languages. His name was Maurice Gutmann. I would love to find some sort of documentation on this.
Per my May 6, 2019 comment-shortly afterwards I found my husband’s mother’s U.S. Army photo I.D. card for that time period. However, it does not say specifically what her job was. I am hoping to find more evidence. We emailed Ben Ferencz, the judge my father-in-law mentioned in his Shoah Tapes, and the only Trials judge still alive. Unfortunately, he called us and left a voice message when we were out-of-town. Said he didn’t remember John’s parents, but apologized that he is 100 years old & his memory isn’t so good anymore. Found out he lives near my FL condo, but he would be up in NY when we went down there recently. What a pity!!!
A Must Watch: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/what-the-last-nuremberg-prosecutor-alive-ben-ferencz-wants-the-world-to-know-60-minutes-2019-06-30/
4 videos, one after the other. 🙂
Thank you Verotchka! We finally got to watch this via Netflix the other night. It was interesting to see Ferencz living in the old section of where we have our FL condo, and to watch him walk and swim were we have so very often! He actually called us back again about a week ago & my husband got to speak with him briefly. He laughed heartily when John told him his father referred to him as a “tough little bastard.” We very much hope to visit with him in person if we can get back down there soon! Fran
By the way, please don’t misinterpret what I told you John’s father called Ferencz -it was said with a great deal of admiration. You might recall my stating much earlier that his dad had given testimony against Ohlendorf and, at the time, he & Ferencz were about the same age.
Archive video of the first simultaneous interpreters at the Nurnberg Process (1946). Ten minutes worth watching (you can skip the first 2-3 minutes while the camera is focusing on one person only and nothing happens).
https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn1002410
Excellent find! Even though my mother wasn’t in that rotation, it is most interesting to watch. Thanks.
My father Charles Anthony Guagnini told me he was an Italian interperator at the Trials but would never say more then that he was in the Army at that time I was hoping to find his name on something proving this but cant seem to
I was told my maternal grandfather was an interpreter at Nuremberg. My mother said that they posted an ad in the Milwaukee news paper, (lots of German immigrants) for people speaking multiple languages. He was then chosen because he spoke multiple languages. I.e. German, American, Swiss, or Swesideuth. Please let me know if you have more information as I’ve looked for him in documentaries about Nuremberg. Thank you. Cherie
Guess I never updated. In March, while at our FL condo (we live in MD), we actually got to visit with Ben Ferencz and his son, Donald, who was visiting. It was the day before Ben’s 100th Birthday (!) and he looked wonderful. I got a great photo of my husband & Ben sitting together. Though Ben still didn’t remember my husband’s parents, they talked about the other judges and people John’s parents had known & interacted with during the Nuremburg Trials. It was wonderful watching this discussion and, afterwards, noting John’s satisfaction with finally having met this man he so admires.
I was told by my mother that my dad was an interpreter! He spoke fluent German! His family were from German/ Polish descent! His name was Raymond Lowin! We was in the Air Force and fought in WW2 and the Korean War! He came from a family of 12 kids! His parents had 6 kids in East Prussia and came to the US in 1908! They settled in Bloomfield Nebraska and had six more kids! Which some of dads brothers and him enlisted and fought in WW2! I hope to find a list of those who were involved!
My Uncle Arnold Lissance was a German to English, English to German.
My grandfather Col Cambreth John Kane (REret) was definitely a translator. He is top left second from the left in the best known photograph – staring at the camera. I recognised him immediately when I went to look after hearing about his involvement.
His father Matthew Nisbet Kane (Seaforth Highlanders) was born in Mohil Ireland and he was born in inniskilling.
His mother was from Albanian Catholic refugee parents in Swabia – Freiburg. Her father was a conductor on the S-bahn to Stuttgart.
She became a maid in mohil Castle and married Matthew, son of the House – back from the Afghanistan war.
Their marriage was disapproved of and eventually they fled to Normandy where Cambreth first went to school.
Later he went to St Paul’s in London and joined the Royal Engineers ‘fought through all the ww1 and was wounded twice.
He was fluent in German, English and French. There is evidence that both he and his father were involved in military intelligence.
His father Matthew got his wife’s (Josephina Caterina) parents out of Germany in the nick of time. They were already refugees so they knew not to linger.
He served in ww2 in West Africa, again most likely in intelligence and liason.
After each war he was a brief time in Afghanistan and India.
Then he was recruited for Nuremberg, mainly for German and English – but his French was also fluent.
Inspired by his contact with the law and the need to earn money after a divorce he read for the bar and served in London until his retirement and death in the 70s.
He retired to and died in Alicante Spain with his second Prússia wife, eventually thanks to dementia speaking only German.
She had in some way been involved with the filmmaker who made Metropolis I think she was his neice. Cambreth was a socialist and stood for Dorset North and was a jp in Dorchester and president of the Guernsey cattle society.
A man who “got involved” and a thorough European. Matthew was great friends with Douglas Hyde poet and first president of Ireland whose father was vicar of mohil and his godfather. Cambreth and my father and his siblings would holiday with Hyde and his sister and also in Austria and Germany with friends and relatives. Hence my father spoke good German when he was a sapper too in occupied Germany.
Thank you, Steve. Your story was most interesting. We finally found a picture of my mother-in-law in uniform. I will be sending that, along with a copy of the signed and dated documentation sending her from England to work with the American army in Nuremburg to the arrmy archives to see what other information they can provide about her translation duties. When we sat with Ben Ferencz last year, while he didn’t remember my mother-in-law per se (he apologized for his 100-year old memory not being as good anymore!), he did remember the people and stories my husband brought up. It’s a pity so much of this history has been lost, and the people who can fill in the narrative are mostly gone.
DEar Steve, As some readers of this blog may know I am the curator of a research project with exhibition on the CVs of the Nuremberg simultaneous interpreters (www.1trial-4languages.org) . We’ve tried to find out as much as we can about the persons known to us and to find more names. However, this is very difficult, because there is a great confusion on who was a translator, who was an interpreter and for what purpose. Almost anyone who was there in some capacity and knew German had to translate and/or interpret at some point. I went through the various personnel lists that we have (all incomplete and not covering the entire trial) and the name Kane does not appear. I would very much like to see the photograph you are mentioning, because there are still some faces we cannot connect to names and some names for which we do not have any faces. Thanks for your help. Elke
My Jewish father, Alvin Mills, was a stenographer at the trials but never talked about them. He went on to marry a lovely Austian girl – my mother – he met in Salzburg. I once found a directory of all Amerian personnel who worked at the trials and gave their addresses. I have it somewhere and if I can find it, I will post the link here.
If you can find that, it’s exactly what we are all looking for!
Wow. Deborah, PLEASE try your best to find that directory. The people who run the exhibits in Nuremberg hardly have any information about the people who served there and, even if this lists only Americans, that would be a tremendous help. Apparently good records were not kept. I wonder if it would list my mother-in-law who, though German, living in England, was hired by the American Army and sent to Nuremberg to work as a translator. We have her paperwork and now a recently found photo of her in her American Army uniform. I wish you good luck!
Arthur H Kramer, was in the US Army and a translator in the Nurnberger trials. Is there a list of the Americans? He was fluent in English, German and Russian.
We are still hoping someone can come up with a legitimate list of the American and American Army-hired translators and interpreters. Fingers crossed!
Hi Ellen, I would like to talk more about this. I am currently writing a thesis about the unknown faces of Nuremberg, and your story seems really interesting.
Could you maybe send me an email?? Or maybe write here your email? thank you!!
m.migliozzi1@studenti.unint.eu or miriana.migliozzi@outlook.it
My husband’s Uncle Noah J. Jacobs was an author, scholar and well regarded linguist. The back of one of his books (the Toils of Language) states that he was the “head of the American translation services at the Nuremberg trials.” In addition, I found a document “Directory of Military Tribunals’ Personnel in 1948” His name was listed. It is interesting that there aren’t many, if any, documents that provide more information on those that served their community and mankind with their valuable contribution.
Hello, my name is Charles Inches, I am looking into the past of my father, Donald Inches, who I have good reason to believe served actively during the Nuremberg trials, either as a translator or an interpreter.
My father was born on April 27th, 2025, from a Scottish father and German mother. He grew up between Germany and Switzerland, and upon WWII breakout served in the British Army as a Captain. After the end of the War he relocated to Germany (speaking fluent German, English, French and Italian), but I unfortunately have almost no information about this time, apart from the fact that there he met Miss Doreen Pynn, who was to become his beloved wife and my charming mother. After the time spent in Germany my parents moved back to England, then to Switzerland where I grew up and today live.
I am seeking information about this time he spent in Germany, so I can ensure his legacy experience is not forgotten. My dear farther never wished to speak about that time of his life… Thanks to anyone who might help me discover more!
My name is Clare Farrow and my mother’s godmother was called Josephine (Jo) Lart. My mother told me that Jo was a translator at the Nuremberg Trials. She was one of the most wonderful people I ever met. A model in 1930s Berlin and friend of many artists there, after a car crash she went to work in the British Embassy in Bonn. Her brother had been killed in action during WW1 and she kept his violin throughout her life. She was fluent in German and had a great love of art and theatre. She also wore the largest, heaviest earrings I have ever seen! Sadly I was too little to ask her about her work in the Nuremberg Trials. She died in Brixham, South Devon, so poor at the end of her life that she had to get work in a fish restaurant, washing the dishes. A brave woman, full of character, creativity and vitality. I would love to know if any lists materialise that mention a Miss J. Lart?