James H. Grossmann Memorial Jewish Book Month

James H. Grossmann Memorial Jewish Book Month: Richard W. Sonnenfeldt Department: Community Events Location and Time: Eric Brown Theater 7:30 pm Cost: $8 JCC members • $10 general Admission For More Information Contact: Ophrah Listokin x433 olistokin

"Witness to Nuremberg: The Chief American Interpreter at the War Crimes Trials" by Richard W. Sonnenfeldt
Richard Sonnenfeldt, the chief interpreter for the American prosecution at the Nuremberg trials, will deliver the Keynote Address to conclude this year’s fabulous roster of authors who participated in the James H. Grossmann Memorial Jewish Book Month.
In his book, Witness to Nuremberg, Sonnenfeldt reveals startling new information about the Nazi war criminals and the origins and development of the Holocaust, as well as his life pursuits before and after the trials. It is unlikely that anyone alive today has as many firsthand memories of the Nazi leaders, who plotted extermination as their top priority.
“They were without doubt the world’s greatest living criminals,” says Sonnenfeldt, “but their hands were clean, their expressions were normal. They could have been people you meet on the street. You think, what kind of man can do this, can serve someone like Hitler, and you realize… a yes man; a toady. If there’s a lesson to be learned from this, it’s the evils of dictatorship, of too much power in too few hands. Power and evil run on the same track.”
Richard Sonnenfeldt, who was only 21-22 at the time of the Nuremberg interviews, went on to live a remarkable life. He grew up in Germany, escaped to England in 1938, was deported to Australia as a German enemy alien, arrived in the U.S. where he joined the army, returned to Europe to fight in the Battle of the Bulge at the age of 22 and went on to participate in the liberation of the Dachau concentration camp. The same year, he was appointed chief interpreter for the American prosecution of Nazi war criminals at Nuremberg. In addition to these extraordinary accomplishments, Sonnenfeldt graduated first in his class from the engineering school at Johns Hopkins, played a major role in the development of color television and the computers for NASA’s first moon shots, and celebrated his 75th birthday by sailing across the Atlantic Ocean. He is now 83.
Book Sale and Signing after the presentation
Event Chair: Steven Siegler