Seventy years ago, George Sakheim spent many hours interpreting the words of some of humanity's worst killers during the Nuremberg trials in Germany.
The World War II victors decided to put the surviving Nazi leaders on trial for war crimes and chose the Bavarian city partly because that was where the Nazi Party had staged its rallies, so having the tribunal in Nuremberg would emphasise the party's demise.
Mr Sakheim told SBS the mood in 1945 was one of righteous anger:
"The feeling was very often anger, a kind of a righteous anger that that was what they deserved. They had no mercy on their victims and now we're going to put them before the bar of justice and however it turns out, it turns out."
Listen to the full interview:
Now 92 years old, Mr Sakheim was born in Germany to Jewish parents.
He moved to the United States in 1938 when he was 15 and eventually ended up serving in the United States Army.
Mr Sakheim has travelled back to Nuremberg to take part in a symposium this weekend to mark the 70th anniversary of the start of the trials which began on November 20, 1945.
The trials are often described as the world's first war crimes tribunal and they saw many of the surviving Nazis sent to their deaths or given hefty jail terms.
"It was a time when the feelings ran very, very high and we thought they had a fair trial,” he said. “Everybody had their four or five days or a week in court where they could explain their actions, what they did and why they did it and usually what it boiled down to was that they were so used to in Germany following orders from higher up that they always put it on that.
"Well, Befehl ist Befehl, order is order and you don't contradict them and you don't question them.”
Trials put the world on notice
George Sakheim told SBS the establishment of the trials sent an important message to the world.
"This should be a warning to leaders of nations or large groups that they will be answerable, they will be held accountable before the international community for whatever deeds they commit; illegal, outrageous deeds like that."
Crush dictatorships early
70 years later, Mr Sakheim said one other key lesson from the trials was the need to crush dictatorships no matter where they are in the world, at the earliest opportunity.
He told SBS the rise of the Islamic State serves as a perfect example.
"We should not wait until they're strong and powerful like Nazi Germany became but early on, once their intentions are clear, the international community should wipe them out," he said.
