I recently watched the excellent “Judgment at Nuremberg” and so was interested to see that the lead translator during the trials in Nuremberg, Richard W. Sonnenfeldt, has written a book detailing his experiences and is giving a lecture in New Jersey next week. A summary of his experiences in a local newspaper reveals some fascinating insight into the war criminals of the era.

Said Rudolf Hoess, commandant of Auschwitz, in reply to an accusation that he’d killed 3.5 million people: “Oh, no, it was only 2.5 million.” Rudolf added that the rest died of “other causes.”

Hoess also said, in reply to being accused of taking gold teeth from his victims’ corpses: “What kind of man do you think I am?”

The degree to which the human mind is capable of warping to permit the worst of evil whilst still maintaining self-esteem is shocking.