“I have done some digging in my memory files and some old folders”: An intimate look through my correspondence with Nuremberg interpreters from 1995 to 1998

Abstract

This article offers a look behind the scenes of the research for my book The Origins of Simultaneous Interpretation: The Nuremberg Trial, which was published by the University of Ottawa Press in 1998 (Gaiba 1998). I share anecdotes and information from my personal correspondence from 1995 to 1998 with some of the simultaneous interpreters and language personnel of the Nuremberg Trial of 1945-1946. My correspondence with them reveals their personalities and their eagerness and interest in participating in this research about their phenomenal contribution to one of the most important events of the twentieth century—a contribution which, incredibly, had been ignored up until the publication of this book. Featured in this article are E. Peter Uiberall and Alfred Steer, who worked at the trial mostly as monitor and language administrator, respectively, and were the most important sources of original material for my research on Nuremberg interpretation. Also featured are Edith Coliver, Sigfried Ramler, and Elisabeth Heyward. Almost 75 years after the end of the trial, the interpreters’ contribution to that historical event, as well as their correspondence with me during my research from 1995 to 1998, are significant historical contributions that need to be acknowledged and celebrated.