Nuremberg's Voice of Doom: The Autobiography of the Chief Interpreter at History's Greatest Trials - Hardcover

Frank Wolfe

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1526737515 ISBN 13: 9781526737519

Publisher: Frontline Books, 2018

Synopsis

The memoirs of Wolfe Frank, which lay hidden in an attic for twenty-five years, are a unique and highly moving behind-the-scenes account of all that happened at Nuremberg the greatest trial in history as seen through the eyes of a witness to the entire proceedings. They include important historical information never previously revealed. In an extraordinarily explicit life story, Frank includes his personal encounters, inside and outside the courtroom, with Goering, Ribbentrop, Keitel, Ley, Speer, Hess, et al. This book therefore is a unique record that adds substantially to what is already publicly known about the trials and the defendants. Involved in proceedings from day one and used more than any other interpreter, Frank translated the first piece of evidence and concluded the trials by announcing the sentences to the defendants (and several hundred million radio listeners). This earned him the soubriquet Voice of Doom . As an interrogator, he drew many confessions out of the war criminals including Otto Ohlendorf s admission to humanely killing 90,000 Jews with his mobile gas chambers. Prior to the war, Frank, a man of Jewish descent, was a Bavarian playboy who, for over three years, managed to avoid giving the Nazi salute, even on the many occasions he was in Hitler s presence. He was also an engineer, a resistance worker, a smuggler (of money and Jews out of Germany) and he was declared to be an enemy of the State to be shot on sight . Having escaped to Britain and been interned at the outbreak of war he successfully campaigned for his release and to be allowed to enlist in the British Army in which he rose to the rank of Captain. Unable to speak English prior to his arrival, by the time of the Nuremberg trials he was described as being the finest interpreter in the world . A unique character of extreme contrasts Frank was a maverick, a sybarite, a womaniser, a risk taker and an opportunist. He was also a highly intelligent man of immense courage, charm, good manners, integrity and ability. He undertook the toughest assignment imaginable at Nuremberg and he played a major role in materially shortening the enormously difficult procedures by an estimated three years . Nuremberg s Voice of Doom is a story of two interwoven themes: one of love, adventure and excitement; the other of a former German citizen s fight for the right to become a British soldier and his extraordinary commitment to service, duty and justice. Whilst this book is therefore an important military record that will appeal to those interested in the history of World War II and the rise and fall of the Nazi Party, as well as being a definitive account of all that happened at Nuremberg, it is also an enthralling human-interest story that will intrigue and fascinate a much wider audience. See overleaf for biographical notes of the Author and the Editor.

About this title

Review:

"Nuremberg's Voice of Doom vividly brings to life the character of Wolfe Frank: refugee, soldier, playboy, Nazi hunter and Chief Interpreter at the Nuremberg Trials. Historian Paul Hooley has done a magnificent job compiling Frank's papers to create a startling posthumous autobiography of the man who literally pronounced judgement on some of the most evil men in history. Readers will be astonished at the sheer charisma of Wolfe Frank whose sparkling personality leaps off the page in a historically important war memoir like no other. A must read to uncover a complex but wrongfully forgotten hero of the 20th Century."--History of War Magazine

"The extraordinary memoirs of the chief interpreter at the Nuremberg Trials have come to light after they lay hidden in an attic for more than 25 years, revealing for the first time some of the final thoughts of defeated Nazi leaders.

Frank's memoirs, which offer a haunting window in the past, have been released as a book, revealing the acceptance and defiance of some of history's most evil men as they prepared for the hangman's noose."--Mail Online

"A fascinating new book Nuremberg's Voice of Doom, the autobiography of Wolfe Frank, chief interpreter at the Nuremberg Trials, edited by Paul Hooley, looks at the man who was so instrumental in the trials and possibly the only person to get the most intricate details of all that went on - it is a truly remarkable story - you really don't want to miss what this book has to say."--Jewish Views

About the Author:

Born on St Valentine's Day 1913, WOLFE FRANK was a strikingly handsome man who proved to be irresistible to women. Post Nuremberg he single-handedly tracked down and apprehended one of the 'most wanted' Nazi criminals and in a packed lifetime he was, at various times, a financial advisor, racing driver, theatre impresario, broadcaster, journalist, salesman, businessman, restaurateur, skier, and property developer. PAUL HOOLEY was born and educated in Surrey. He founded a design and printing company that grew to be ranked amongst the industry's top 1%. He has also been a director of a building society, a private hospital and companies involved in advertising, publishing, finance, building, transport, property and engineering. He retired from business in 1990 since when he has devoted his life to studying, writing and lecturing on a wide range of historical and military subjects. A former town and district councillor, he was Mayor of Bedford in 1978\. Amongst other involvements he has been a magistrate, a tax commissioner and a prison visitor. He has been married to Helen for over fifty years, has three children and now lives in Dorset. He was appointed a MBE?in 2003.

About this edition

• Publisher: Frontline Books
• Publication date: 2018
• ISBN 10: 1526737515
• ISBN 13: 9781526737519
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 202