Ernest Lorch was born on May 15, 1923, in Nuremberg. He lived with his family close to "Naussauer Haus", which is located in the center of Nuremberg's old town opposite the famous Lorenzkirche. There, his father, like his grandfather before him, ran a jewelry store. In the Pogrom Night from November 9 to 10, 1938, his father was murdered. With the help of a school friend, he and his mother managed to flee to the USA in the spring of 1939.

In December 1942, Ernest “Ernie” Lorch joined the American military service. During the Second World War, he was initially assigned to a British intelligence unit in Africa. In the winter of 1944, he and his company finally found themselves in Northern France, where prisoners of war were already being interrogated.

After the war, he was ordered first to Spa and then to Bad Mondorf in Belgium, where he worked as a translator in preparation for the Nuremberg Trials. In the course of this, he also supported the interrogation of suspected war criminals, such as Hermann Goering or Franz von Papen. In August 1945, he was subsequently entrusted with the transfer of the defendants of the Nuremberg Trials from Bad Mondorf to Nuremberg. After seven years, Ernest Lorch therefore returned to Nuremberg.

In this interview, Ernie Lorch talks about his memories of the Nuremberg Trials.