大象传媒

As I was the only person in the unit who spoke any German, I was constantly being called upon to act as an interpreter. On this occasion I was relaxing on my bed, when a member of the RAF Regiment arrived with a summons for me to go at once to the headquarters building. There I found two Germans, one an elderly man and the other a middle-aged woman, trying in vain to convey something to the RAF Regiment officer.

All were standing on the steps of the Gasthaus. Nearby stood the sentry guarding the entrance. The conversation, which I was called upon to translate, was as follows:-

"My daughter has something serious to tell you",

said the elderly man.
She took up the story at once, beginning,

"Last night, I was in bed with my little girl when I heard a loud knocking on the door. When I opened the door an English soldier with a bayonet pushed his way into the house."

At this point the RAF Regiment officer obviously realized that this was a matter which ought to be resolved elsewhere. He took us all (with the exception of the sentry) into his office. There, the woman continued her story. The woman related how she was forced back on her bed with the bayonet held at her throat, whilst her little girl was a terrified spectator. A later visit to the scene of the crime, for a crime it was, revealed a really small cottage containing one large room serving its purpose as a living room, kitchen and a bedroom. However at this initial interview, the officer produced a notebook and recorded the details, such as the woman's name and address, her marital status and so on. Actually her husband was missing in Russia.

"Were you raped?" The officer posed this question to the woman.

Here my duty as translator was really tested. After all, it is not a word that I had ever had occasion to use in the past. I explained to the officer that I had a German/English dictionary in my billet.

"Try seduce", he suggested, possibly believing that the word was easier to translate.

Yet again I had to disappoint him. He asked me whether I knew any German word, which might convey the sexual act. With regret, I was forced to admit complete ignorance. Meanwhile the two Germans listened uncomprehendingly to this exchange. Sensing that there was some linguistic problem, they began to suggest all manner of words, none of which rang a bell with me. Up to this point, the woman had been very tearful. Now she began to speak with no show of emotion but with an obvious desire to clarify the situation. It became evident that the dictionary was a vital need in this interrogation. So an airman was dispatched to my billet in the Hitler Youth hostel to fetch the vital aid.

"Hat der englische Soldat Sie vergewaltigt?" was the question, I was able to put at last to the
poor woman.

"Ja!", she replied, and then once again with greater emphasis, "JA!"
Now the situation was clear. Afterwards, the officer told me that he was amazed at my ignorance because when he took French at school, those sort of words were the very ones he learnt first.

The sequel to the whole affair was that a week later a British Army Provost officer and a German police detective came to make proper enquiries. But before the result of those enquiries were to hand, we moved off once again, this time up north and across the frontier into Denmark. Consequently I never heard of the outcome of the case.

漏 Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.