Translating evil
Paul Hooley, MBE, discusses Wolfe Frank – linguist, soldier and refugee who became the chief interpreter at the Nuremberg Trials
Paul Hooley discusses chief translator of the nuremberg trials: Wolfe Frank
The Nuremberg Trials are the most famous military tribunals in history. Overseen by Allied forces in the immediate aftermath of WWII, the trials were the prosecution of prominent members of Nazi Germany. These individuals were responsible for participating in some of the worst war crimes in history, including the Holocaust.
Held within the Palace of Justice in Nuremberg, the first and best-known tribunal was that of 24 major war criminals of the Nazi regime between November 1945 and October 1946. Key to the proceedings was the team of linguists who ensured that statements and rulings were fairly translated. Towering above all was the Chief Interpreter, Wolfe Frank, who is now the subject of the posthumously published autobiography Nuremberg’s Voice Of Doom.
Compiled and edited by historian Paul Hooley from previously hidden memoirs, the book reveals a fascinating man. Frank was a German underground resistance worker against the Nazis during the 1930s before he was forced to flee to Britain. He initially prospered but was then interned during the initial years of WWII. Frank was eventually released and joined the British Army before his role at Nuremberg. He was a crucial part of the trials and became known as the ‘Voice of Doom’ for his official pronouncements of death sentences.
Frank tragically committed suicide in 1988 but Hooley now reveals this extraordinary character who was both an adventurous hedonist and a deeply courageous man of integrity.
“A historian’s dream”
WHAT WERE THE CIRCUMSTANCES THAT LED YOU TO EDITING FRANK’S PAPERS INTO A BOOK? In 2015 a friend of mine, Mike Dilliway, was moving home and came across boxes and briefcases full of documents that he had inherited from a friend, Wolfe Frank. Mike had placed the cache in his loft where it remained undisturbed for over 25 years. Not knowing what to do with the collection he asked me to see if the archive contained anything of importance. After having sorted, catalogued, researched and checked several thousand sheets of data, my heart soared with excitement at the realisation of important discoveries.
The collection turned out to be the memoirs and associated documents of Frank who had been the chief interpreter at the International War Crimes Trials in Nuremberg. The archive was a historian’s dream. WHAT WAS HIS PERSONALITY LIKE? All those I have spoken to who knew Frank remembered him as a charming, imposing and modest man of good taste and manners. He was always impeccably dressed and kept very much to himself. However, in spite of appearing to be the quintessential Englishman, he was a refugee who had fled Nazi Germany in 1937 and was branded “an enemy of the state to be shot on sight”. He had also been a strikingly handsome man and was irresistible to the ladies.
Frank was a unique character of extreme contrasts. He spent a lifetime in the fast lane enjoying himself, even during the most difficult of times. It cannot be denied that he was a maverick who took liberties and was a playboy, risk taker, serial adulterer and heavy drinker.
However he was also a man of immense courage, honour and ability. His handling of the translations, interrogations and interpretations at Nuremberg sets him apart from all other interpreters of his time, perhaps of all time. He was asked to undertake the toughest assignment imaginable and was perhaps the only man in the world who could have satisfied all concerned.
Resistance and exile
“HE WAS ASKED TO UNDERTAKE THE TOUGHEST ASSIGNMENT IMAGINABLE AND WAS PERHAPS THE ONLY MAN IN THE WORLD WHO COULD HAVE SATISFIED ALL CONCERNED”
HOW DID NAZISM CHANGE HIS LIFE? Frank was the son of a Jewish industrialist and had a privileged upbringing but all that changed in 1933. Firstly, his father – who had lost his factories and knew, as a Jew, what lay ahead of him – took his own life. Frank was also present in Munich on 5 March 1933 when he watched the Nazis’ triumphant parade as they announced Hitler’s coming to power. During the rally he witnessed what was almost certainly the Third Reich’s first public beating of a Jew. This incident led Frank to resolve that he would never give the salute himself again and he managed to avoid doing so even when he was actually in Hitler’s presence.
Frank became an active member of an underground resistance movement, based at the Carlton Tearooms, where he and Hitler often took refreshment. A movement that was involved in smuggling large amounts of money and endangered Jewish citizens out of Germany was right under Hitler’s nose.
WHAT PROMPTED FRANK TO LEAVE GERMANY? His life changed dramatically in 1936. He met and fell in love with the woman who was to become his first wife but they were unable to marry because of his non-aryan ancestry. The couple were befriended by a British Army officer in Italy who arranged for them to come to England and be married. Upon his return home, Frank was tipped off by a friend in the Gestapo that he was about to be arrested and interned in Dachau concentration camp. He escaped to Switzerland and then England, leaving behind his bride of six days, whom he did not see for almost ten years.
Arriving in England without money, few possessions, and unable to speak the language, Frank enthusiastically integrated into British life. He was fluent in English within two years, became a managing director of two companies, produced a West End musical and was an executive with a land corporation.
WHAT WERE FRANK’S INITIAL EXPERIENCES DURING THE WAR? In spite of his known heroism as a resistance worker and having been officially declared an enemy of the Third Reich, Frank was arrested at
the beginning of WWII, along with all other former German and Austrian citizens, and interned as an enemy alien. Frank was determined to clear his name, gain his freedom and join the British Army. Within weeks of his detainment he was appointed “camp leader” and applied pressure on those commanding the various camps.
Frank’s persistence eventually paid off and he was not only released, but allowed to enlist in the British Army’s Auxiliary Pioneer Corps. In December 1944 he joined the Royal Northumberland Fusiliers as a second lieutenant.
A pivotal role
HOW WAS FRANK SELECTED FOR THE TRIALS? Frank was appointed as a staff captain following the Allied victory and instructed to join the British War Crimes Executive. He was informed, “This unit will be engaged in collecting material for the prosecution of the major war criminals. That’s Goering and others. We leave on Sunday.” Frank was therefore involved with the BWCE from day one and was given the very first piece of evidence to translate, which was Hitler’s infamous ‘Night & Fog’ decree. This had ordered the execution of Allied airmen, which later featured in the film The Great Escape.
The BWCE moved to Bad Oeynhausen where Frank honed his skills as a translator, investigator and interrogator. This led to him being singled out as an interpreter with exceptional skills and brought him to the attention of the head of the US Language Division, Leon Dostert. He immediately had Frank transferred onto the US translating team for the Nuremberg Trials, which led to him being appointed as chief interpreter. WHAT WAS FRANK’S ROLE AT THE TRIALS AND HOW VALUABLE WERE HIS INTERPRETING SKILLS? By the time of the trials Frank was considered to be the finest interpreter in the world. He spoke and understood German better than most Germans did and spoke English with the depth, clarity and diction of a highly educated British aristocrat. Frank’s contributions at Nuremberg were considered to be major factors in seeing that justice was fairly interpreted and translated to all parties. This is said to have shortened the proceedings by an estimated three years.
To put this into context, the first and most important of the trials lasted ten months, during which time the interpreters spoke six million words – predominantly in English and German. Frank was directly involved in translating one third of everything spoken into English and a similar amount into German. This included nine of the 12 hours Hermann Goering spent in the witness box.
British prosecutor Sir David Maxwell Fyfe’s cross-examination of Hermann Goering is considered to be one of the most noted performances in legal history and Frank faultlessly repeated everything said by both Maxwell Fyfe and Goering throughout. Frank was also the only interpreter at Nuremberg who could be used on both English and German interpretation teams.
WHAT WAS HIS ROLE IN PIONEERING ‘SIMULTANEOUS INTERPRETATION’ DURING THE TRIALS? Simultaneous interpretation was born at Nuremberg. Previously, in every sphere of life – diplomacy, industry, science and all other areas – interpretation had always been done consecutively.
Simultaneous interpretation is now widely used but when the trials started no one knew about it. At Nuremberg the original statement, such as testimony before the court, was delivered into a microphone that was connected by cable to the earphones of an interpreter for the first time. As he listened to the speaker, the interpreter simultaneously delivered a spoken translation into a microphone in his booth.
A cable connected his microphone, as well as those of other interpreters seated in other booths to a selector switch, which was installed at every seat in the auditorium. A listener could then dial the channel that carried the language he wished to hear.
“FRANK WAS ALSO AN INVESTIGATOR, INTERROGATOR AND EVIDENCE GATHERER”
WHICH NAZIS DID FRANK TRANSLATE FOR AND ENCOUNTER? Quite apart from being an interpreter, Frank was also an investigator, interrogator and evidence gatherer. He was additionally given the task of helping the defendants choose their lawyers. These roles brought him into contact with all the war criminals particularly during the first and most major trial of the top 24 Nazis. This included Goering, Rudolf Hess, Joachim von Ribbentrop, Wilhelm Keitel, Albert Speer and perhaps the most evil of them all, according to Frank, Otto Ohlendorf.
WHAT WAS HIS OPINION OF THOSE ON TRIAL? Whenever Frank dealt directly with the war criminals he seems to have been able to set aside personal feelings in all formal situations. However during the long periods of interrogation he did let slip examples of another side to his character. He told Ernst Kaltenbrunner that it had been a pleasure to have seen him cry in front of British officers, and his goading of Wilhelm Keitel over the criminal aspects of his execution orders led the field marshal to angrily retort, “I was with the Fuhrer when the bomb went off in the assassination attempt. I would give anything to have been killed by his side then.”
Frank himself wrote, “I am a total believer in the Nuremberg Trials. I do not believe that any alternative solution existed. The fact that other similar crimes were committed, sometimes on the Allied side, does not mean that Nuremberg was morally, legally, ethically or historically wrong. Even Goering thought they were fair.” HOW DID HE ACQUIRE HIS NICKNAME ‘THE VOICE OF DOOM’? From the moment the trials started, Frank became a central figure at all stages. He interpreted the tribunal’s opening remarks, was used more than any other interpreter, and then finally brought proceedings to a close by informing the defendants of their fate. This was a duty, simultaneously listened to by an estimated radio audience of four hundred million, which led the world’s media to dub him the ‘Voice of Doom’. The first and last words the defendants heard in their own language at Nuremberg were uttered by Wolfe Frank, a man they trusted implicitly and for whom they had the highest possible regard.
Frank describes his announcing of the death sentences to 11 of the accused as the tensest hour of his life. Even this was not without further incident. As he was about to inform Goering of his fate, the sound equipment cut out. Goering shrugged at Frank to indicate he could not hear what was being said.
Once fixed, Frank resumed and Goering gave him a thin smile and a thumbs-up sign, to indicate he could hear again. This was at the very moment Frank announced “death by the rope”. It was a surreal moment that haunted Frank for the rest of his life.
“The ace of them all”
HOW DID FRANK’S CONTEMPORARIES REGARD HIM? Michael Musmanno, one of the presiding judges at Nuremberg, inscribed on a photograph of him and Frank interrogating General Karl Wolff, “To Wolfe Frank – Ace Interpreter at the Nuremberg International War Crimes Trials – and so far as I am concerned the whole world round.”
Elsewhere one of the prosecutors, Henry T. King Jr., recalled, “Frank’s translations were delicious – he had a great command of the English language. I used to go to the courtroom sometimes in the afternoon just to listen to him.”
International journalists including R. W. Cooper of The Times also praised Frank,
“By common accord Captain Wolfe Frank, translating from German into English, who came to Nuremberg in British uniform and returned as a civilian, was the ace of them all.” HOW DOES IT FEEL TO HAVE POSTHUMOUSLY PUBLISHED HIS AUTOBIOGRAPHY AND WHAT IS YOUR PERSONAL OPINION OF FRANK? I knew it was my duty to ensure that the important historical information contained in Frank’s memoirs became more widely known. I hope I have done him justice and told his story the way he would have wanted it presented, warts and all. I also hope that readers will see what I see, that there was once a man whose “superlative scholarship, administration, intellect and integrity” won him the unreserved praise of all who witnessed his performances on a world stage. He was a major contributing factor in the success of the “greatest trial the world has ever seen”.