Rome – Eighty years after the conclusion of the Nuremberg trials, on 1 October 1946, the International Association of Conference Interpreters (AIIC), in collaboration with the University of International Studies in Rome (UNINT), is organising an exhibition-event in Rome dedicated to the interpreters who made that trial possible, the AIIC said. The initiative, entitled “Voices of Justice: the professional and ethical legacy of the Nuremberg interpreters”, was awarded the Medal of the President of the Republic.
The initiative kicks off on 29 September at the Sala Europa, 11 Piazza Venezia, with an international conference bringing together legal experts, historians and the descendants of the key figures of that era. Until 1 October, the Spazio Esperienza Europa will host the exhibition itself, which includes previously unpublished accounts such as pages from the diary of Stefan Priacel, translator for Italian anti-fascists exiled in France who was subsequently interned for eleven months, and the memoir of Génia Rosoff, who was detained at the Ravensbrück concentration camp. A film festival and the closing conference are also scheduled to take place at UNINT University.
At the heart of the initiative lies the role that simultaneous interpreting played in ensuring the fairness of the Nuremberg trials: it was Robert Jackson, chief prosecutor for the United States and a US Supreme Court justice, who insisted as early as the negotiations leading up to the London Agreement of 8 August 1945 on the need to break down the language barrier between the prosecution, the defendants, and the judges, lest the trial be reduced, as he is said to have put it himself, to an incomprehensible Babel of languages. In Courtroom 600 of the Nuremberg Palace of Justice, a five-channel IBM system was thus set up – one channel for the original language and four for English, French, Russian, and German – with tabletop signal lights that allowed interpreters to request breaks in the event of cognitive or emotional overload.
“Nuremberg taught us that there can be no true justice without full mutual understanding. Linguistic democracy and the interpreter’s impartiality ensure that language always serves as a bridge for the affirmation of fundamental rights,” said the President of AIIC Italy, Mariolina Mapelli.
“Understanding the past is essential if we are to tackle our sometimes difficult present. This is the role of cultural institutions such as the University,” The Chair of the UNINT Board of Directors, Fabio Bisogni, added.
The programme, designed specifically for schools and universities, includes a multimedia tour curated by students, an opening lecture moderated by the historian Agostino Giovagnoli on the ethical issues raised by the automation of communication, and screenings of the films Nuremberg by James Vanderbilt (2025) and The Defiant Ones by Stanley Kramer (1961). The concluding academic conference will take place on 1 October in the Aula Magna at UNINT.
English version by the Translation Service of Withub
