Interpreting and translating in Nazi concentration camps during World War II

Authors

  • Malgorzata Tryuk University of Warsaw Poland

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.52034/lanstts.v15i.386

Keywords:

concentration camp, camp interpreter, Władysław Baworowski, Mala Zimetbaum, Wanda Jakubowska

Abstract

This article investigates translation and interpreting in a conflict situation with reference to the Nazi concentration camps during World War II. In particular, it examines the need for such services and the duties and the tasks the translators and the interpreters were forced to execute. It is based on archival material, in particular the recollections and the statements of former inmates collected in the archives of concentration camps. The ontological narratives are compared with the cinematic figure of Marta Weiss, a camp interpreter, as presented in the docudrama “Ostatni Etap”(“The last Stage”) of 1948 by the Polish director Wanda Jakubowska, herself a former prisoner of the concentration camp. The article contributes to the discussion on the role that translators and interpreters play in extreme and violent situations when the ethics of interpreting and translation loses its power and the generally accepted norms and standards are no longer applicable.

Author Biography

Malgorzata Tryuk, University of Warsaw Poland

Head of the Department of Interpreting Studies and Audiovisual Translation

Institute of Applied Linguistics

University of Warsaw

References

APMA-B: The Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial Museum Archives. Statements. Volumes 4, 8a, 9, 20, 21, 26b, 29, 33, 35, 36, 39, 45, 46, 47, 50, 61, 64, 65, 66, 67, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 82, 83, 84, 86, 87, 88c, 89, 89b, 91, 94, 96, 97, 100, 101, 111, 114, 115, 122, 124.

APMA-B: The Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial Museum Archives. Recollections. Volumes 131, 133, 136, 139, 145, 148, 149, 154, 167.

APMM: The Majdanek State Museum Archives. Statements. Volume VII–135.

Arciszewska, B. (2013). L’interprète dans les zones de conflit (unpublished master’s thesis). University of Warsaw, Warsaw.

Arendt, H. (1963). Eichmann in Jerusalem: A report on the banality of evil. New York: The Viking Press.

Baker, M. (2005). Narratives to and of translation. SKASE Journal of Translation and Interpretation, 1(1), 4–13.

Baker, M., & Maier, C. (Eds.). (2011). Ethics and the curriculum. Special Issue of The Interpreter and Translator Trainer, 5(1).

Balazs, B. (1987). Wybór pism. Warsaw: Wydawnictwo Artystyczne i Filmowe.

Bowen, D., & Bowen, M. (1985). The Nuremberg Trials: Communication through translation. Meta, 30(1), 74–77.

Capelli, P. (2014). Wartime interpreting: Exploring the experience of interpreters and translators. In C. Valero Garcès (Ed.), (Re)conciderando etica e ideologia en situaciones de conflict/(Re)visiting ethics and ideology in situations of conflict (pp. 15–24). Alcalà de Henares: Servicios de Publicaciones Universidad de Alcalà.

Cronin, M. (2006). Translation and identity. London: Routledge.

Dobosiewicz, S. (2000). W obronie życia i godności ludzkiej. Warsaw: Bellona.

Gaiba, F. (1998). The origins of simultaneous interpretation: The Nuremberg Trial. Ottawa, ON: University of Ottawa Press.

Gramling, D. (2012). Another unspeakability: Levi and Lagerszpracha. New German Critique 117, 39(3), 165–187.

Guidère, M. (2008). Irak in translation: De l’art de perdre une guerre sans connaître la langue de son adversaire. Paris: Édition Jacob-Douvernet.

Gunia, A. (2006). Język obozów koncentracyjnych. Języki Specjalistyczne, 6, 56–60.

Haas, N. (2011). Dolmetschen am Ruanda-Tribunal. Munich: Martin Meidenbauer.

Hale, S. (2007). Community interpreting. Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.

Haltof, M. (2012). Polish film and the Holocaust: Politics and history. New York: Berghahn.

Hollender, B. (1987). Spojrzenie wstecz. Ekran, 50, 14–15.

Kuhiwczak, P. (2007). The grammar of survival: How do we read Holocaust testimonies. In M. Salama-Carr (Ed.), Translating and interpreting conflict. (pp. 61–74). Amsterdam: Rodopi.

Levi, P. (1989). The drowned and the saved. New York: Vintage International. Transl. by Raymond Rosenthal.

Loewy, H. (2004). The Mother of all Holocaust films?: Wanda Jakubowska’s Auschwitz Trilogy. Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, 24(2), 179–204.

Malak, H. M. (1961). Klechy w obozach śmierci. London: Veritas.

Monacelli, C. (2002). Interpreters for peace. In G. Garzone & M. Viezzi (Eds.), Interpreting in the 21st century: Challenges and opportunities. (pp. 181–193). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Morris, R. (1998). Justice in Jerusalem: Interpreting in Israeli legal proceedings. Meta, 43(1), 110–118.

Musioł, T. (1971). Dachau 1939–1945. Opole: Instytut Śląski w Opolu/Katowice: Wyd. Śląsk.

Rigano, G. (2015). L’interprete di Auschwitz. Milan: Ed. Guerini e Associati Spa.

Shelley, L. (1986). Secretaries of death: Accounts by former prisoners who worked in the Gestapo of Auschwitz. New York: Shengold.

Stahuljak, Z. (2000). Violent distortions: Bearing witness to the taste of wartime translators. TTR, 13(1), 37–51.

Stahuljak, Z. (2010). War, translations, transnationalism: Interpreters in and of the war (Croatia 1991–1992). In M. Baker (Ed.), Critical readings in translation studies. (pp. 391–414). London: Routledge.

Szymczukiewicz, M. (2005). L’inteprétation communautaire dans l’armée. Étude de cas: Missions polonaises de paix (Unpublished master’s thesis). University of Warsaw, Warsaw.

Takeda, K. (2007). Sociopolitical aspects of interpreting at the International Military Tribunal for Far East (1946–1948) (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Universitat Rovira i Virgilli, Tarragona.

Talarczyk-Gubała, M. (2015). Wanda Jakubowska od nowa. Warsaw: Wydawnictwo Krytyki Politycznej.

Thomas, R. (1997). United Nations Military Observer Interpreting in a community setting. In S. E. Carr, R. P. Roberts, A. Dufour.& D. Steyn (Eds.), The Critical Link: Interpreters in the Community. (pp. 249–257). Amsterdam/Philadelphia: J. Benjamins Publishing.

Tryuk, M. (2004). L’interprétation communautaire : Des normes et des rôles dans l’interprétation. Warsaw: TEPIS.

Tryuk, M. (2010). Interpreting in Nazi concentration camps during World War II, Interpreting, 12(2), 125–145.

Tryuk, M. (2012). ‘Ty nic nie mów, ja będę tłumaczył’: O etyce w tłumaczeniu ustnym. Warsaw: WLS.

Tryuk, M. (2015). On ethics and interpreters. Frankfurt: Peter Lang.

Tryuk, M. (2016). Interpreters in the concentration camp of Majdanek (1941–1944). In M. Wolf (Ed.), Interpreting in Nazi concentration camps (pp. 115–133). New York: Bloomsbury.

Watanabe, T. (2009). Interpretation at the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal: An overview and Tojo’s cross examination, TTR, 12(1), 57–91.

Wesołowska, D. (1996). Słowa z piekła rodem. Lagerszpracha. Cracow: Oficyna Wydawnicza Impuls.

Wiegand, C. (2000). Role of the interpreter in the healing of a nation: An emotional view. In R. P. Roberts, S. E. Carr, D. Abraham, & A. Dufour (Eds.), The critical link 2: Interpreters in the community. (pp. 207–218). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Wolf, A. (2011). Więźniowie funkcyjni. In M. Grudzińska (Ed.), Majdanek: Obóz koncentracyjny w relacjach więźniów i świadków (pp. 76–81). Lublin: Państwowe Muzeum na Majdanku.

Wolf, M. (2016) (ed.). Interpreting in Nazi concentration camps. New York: Bloomsbury.

Filmography

Ostatni Etap (The Last Stage), dir. Wanda Jakubowska, 1948, DVD, Poleart.

Downloads

Published

07-12-2016

How to Cite

Tryuk, M. (2016). Interpreting and translating in Nazi concentration camps during World War II. Linguistica Antverpiensia, New Series – Themes in Translation Studies, 15. https://doi.org/10.52034/lanstts.v15i.386