Interpreters and War Crimes

Informed by Pym’s (۱۹۹۸) principles of translation history which call for attention to people rather than texts and with close attention to the contextual factors, Interpreters and War Crimes (Takeda, ۲۰۲۱) deal with two extraordinary yet underexplored interpreting situations interpreters could tackle in their profession –interpreters as witnesses of war crimes and interpreters as war criminals. In this book, Takeda examines the cases of interpreter defendants and interpreters as witnesses of war crimes at British military trials against the Japanese in the aftermath of the Pacific War. In navigating their interpreting roles, willingly or unwillingly, these interpreters took the accountabilities of the Japanese military’s crime and suffered the consequences. In the war, they served as messengers between two opposing parties; but in the postwar crime trials, their role as messengers, serving foreign military occupiers, led to punishment, and even paid the ultimate price by the death penalty.

Keywords:

interpreters , War Crimes , Principles of Translation History