ABSTRACT
This book examines interpreters as war criminals and witnesses of war crimes—two extraordinary situations interpreters could face yet which are underexplored in Interpreting Studies. It focuses on the 38 interpreters associated with the wartime Japanese military who were convicted at British military trials for Japanese war crimes (1946–1948) in the aftermath of the Pacific War. In this introduction, the background, objectives and method of this study are laid out. It shines light on interpreters placed in situations in which individual ethical decision-making is constrained in violent hostilities under the military principle of obedience to orders. It also discusses interpreters divulging abuse and criminal acts they witness in the course of their work. The objectives are two-fold. The first is to provide a detailed description of the cases with interpreters as defendants at British military trials by drawing on archival documents and relevant secondary sources on the historical contexts. The second is to engage in theoretical reflection on the main issues surrounding interpreters in war and conflict that emerge from the findings of the first objective; namely interpreters’ proximity to violence, interpreters’ visibility and perceived authorship of speech, interpreters’ joint responsibility in war crimes and interpreters as witnesses of crimes.
