Translating from one language to another is not easy. People of a different culture and language use words, sentence structures, and idioms in a way that when they are translated literally would be meaningless. Differences in historic times with their accompanying differences in thinking further add to the difficulty. One might well misunderstand the meaning of many phrases of Nazi jargon when these are combined with their terminology and ideology.
I am fortunate to have been raised in two cultures. Living in Germany from 1933 until 1947, and since then in the United States, I not only understand Nazi terminology but also modem American English.
In translating the handwritten notes of Rudolf Hoss, another problem arose, since he wrote in a mixture of old German script and the so-called new Latin script adopted in the late nineteen-thirties in Nazi Germany.
In each case Steve and I tried to fmd a modem American equivalent to the Nazi jargon used by H6ss in order to fulfill our main purpose: to present Hdss’s words and thoughts in a readable form that today’s young Americans could easily understand. This was a labor of love to help refute the claim that these horrors did not really happen.
Reader, take to heart the lesson that is there for all to see:
As long as we have hatred in our hearts for any fellow human, this hate could be fanned into the flames of another holocaust
Andrew Pollinger September 27,1991
World History
