In the recent TNT movie about the Nuremberg trials, Herman Goering corrects a prosecutor, saying that the translation of the Wannsee Protocol actually referred to the “total solution” of the Jewish situation, not the “final solution.”
How accurate is this (not whether or not Goering actually said it, but about the translation)? The original German word is Endlösung.
Not speaking German, I put your question to the Ultimate Authorities: Babelfish and Lycos translation engines.
Both of them said the same thing: Final solution.
I’m a little unfamiliar with the subject at hand, but the question says Goering’s reference is to “the translation of the Wannsee Protocol”. Does this mean “the translation to English”, or does it refer to translation into German? In that case it could have been Goering referring to whoever had translated it, who might have used those words.
Regardless, I think it’s trivial to quibble over what the word may have meant literally, in light of what it actually meant.
The word Endloesung is formed from Ende, meaning end, and Loesung meaning solution. Taken literally, end-solution. Certainly it could be translated to mean ‘total solution’ in the sense that it is ultimate, covers all and no further solution will be required, but ‘final solution’ is just as valid, if not more valid.
As to Babelfish, Lycos, etc. they will translate the word or phrase directly to preserve cultural meaning for English speakers. A literal translation would not make clear the historical significance of the word, so it is automatically rendered as ‘final solution’.
[slightly related]
Does anyone know the name of the recently made movie about the Nuremberg trials (may have been a documentary)? (I’m not talking about the one Mjollnir refers to, but one I think is about Eichmann.)
[/slightly related]
OK, I wasn’t trying to trivialize the Wannsee Protocol by quibbling over the translation. The document chillingly speaks for itself with either translation. The reason I ask is just that “Final Solution” is an integral part of the lexicon dealing with WW II. It seemed entirely possible that someone might have just translated it literally, without translating what it really was intended to mean.