Richard Sonnenfeldt, chief interpreter at Nuremberg, died October 9th, aged 86 (The Economist, Oct. 31st, 2009, at 100).

Richard Sonnenfeldt was only twenty-two years old when he became the chief interpreter at Nuremberg. He did more than simply translate; he was also “given unofficial permission to startle, harry, and trick the accused into admitting what they had done.” Sonnenfeldt personally delivered all the indictments to the prisoners in their cells on October 20, 1945. He later reflected that what he found the “most chilling was the very ordinariness of these men [Nazis]“.
After the war, and for most of his life, Sonnenfeldt was an engineer who “helped to develop color television and computers for moon landings”. Nonetheless, for all his achievements, he considered his work at Nuremberg most memorable and important.