An exhibition organized by the Universities of Hildesheim and Salamanca is currently documenting the largely forgotten activity of interpreters during the Nuremberg Trials in 1945 and 1946. The exhibition can be seen in Hildesheim until 17 December. As a result of the interpreters’ work it was possible to establish fluid communication between the judges, the prosecutions, the defences, the witnesses and the accused, who spoke German, French, English and Russian. “The Nuremberg Trials saw a shift from consecutive to simultaneous interpretation”, explains Conchita Otero Moreno, from the Institut für Übersetzungswissenchaft und Fachkommunikation of the University of Hildesheim and a member of the Alfaqueque Group, like Icíar Alonso, Jesús Baigorri and Críspulo Travieso, who have been involved in the exhibition.
The exhibition has been assisted by the European Academy of Yuste Foundation, as well as professors in different disciplines from both universities, some of their students and the Cultural Activities Service of the University of Salamanca, thereby displaying one of the assets of cooperation beyond geographic and scientific borders.
The interpreters had to quickly adapt to the technical conditions of simultaneous interpretation, with which they were unfamiliar before the trials. One of the notable features of their work in Nuremberg was the fact that women from the profession were represented for the first time.
Simultaneous interpretation was used on a large scale for the first time at the Nuremberg Trials. This made it possible for people from different countries to follow how the judicial process unfolded. However, until now the work of the interpreters has remained largely in the shadows. A group of researchers from the Universities of Hildesheim and Salamanca are attempting to shed light on it by means of an exhibition which now, 70 years after the trials, aims to raise awareness of the tasks they performed.
CATALOGUE
Die Dolmetscher in Nürnberg 1945/1946
RELATED NEWS
Verbrecher übersetzen: Dolmetschen während der Nazi-Prozesse
Die Rolle der Dolmetscher im Nürnberger Prozess
