Volksdeutsche Translators as Administrative and Judicial Intermediaries: Comparative Perspectives from Nazi-Occupied Poland and Nazi-Occupied Kyiv, Ukraine (1939–1945)
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: The occupation policy implemented by Nazi Germany between 1939 and 1945 relied on a comprehensive administrative, ideological, and judicial framework designed to ensure effective control and systematic Germanisation of occupied territories. Essential elements of this system included special courts (Sondergerichte) and administrative and propaganda bodies such as the Reichsleiter Rosenberg Taskforce (Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg, ERR). Central to their operations were translators and interpreters of ethnic German descent, known as Volksdeutsche, whose linguistic competencies and perceived ideological reliability positioned them strategically within occupation administrations. This article analyses female Volksdeutsche translators employed by the ERR Central Library in Kyiv between 1942 and 1943. Drawing on archival documents from the Bundesarchiv and employing Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) alongside historical methods, the study examines how neutral bureaucratic language framed translators’ participation in Nazi administrative and ideological structures and how comparable linguistic mediation operated in judicial settings. It also explores the intersection of gender and ethnicity while distinguishing textual evidence from contextual inference. Through case studies of Ida Klaips, Margarethe Rösler, and Alexandra Sack, the article contributes to broader discussions of collaboration, agency, memory, and historical accountability.
Source: Acta Humanitatis.
Language: English
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W4413818198