The Linguist

Chartered Institute of Linguists SUMMER 2025 The Linguist 13 FEATURES Sometimes, a love of languages can last a century. Rena Stewart (1923-2023) was a linguist who became a Bletchley Park girl, translated Hitler's will and blazed a trail for women at the BBC World Service. Growing up in the Scottish village of Lundin Links, Fife, her first love was reading, particularly poetry. This led her to study French and German at St Andrews University, where she was excited to gain access to "a whole new world". Perhaps she envisaged a world of poetry, but in fact she would enter the worlds of the military and journalism. On graduating, in 1943, she decided to "do something about the war" and signed up with the ATS (Auxiliary Territorial Service). Because of her German language skills, she was assigned to Bletchley Park (the centre of code-breaking), where she worked on secret German messages. Her job wasn't translation, but she worked in German. She received decoded messages, filled in any gaps and made them readable (for intelligence analysts), noting any actions taken. It was taxing work and the messages were usually quite dull. However, she did work on one message from a Field Marshal Kesselring that was due to go directly to Hitler. That one she found "absolutely fascinating". At the end of the war, Rena and her Bletchley Park friends were sent with the Intelligence Corps to the Bad Nenndorf interrogation camp in Germany, where they translated the statements of captured Nazi officers. It was serious stuff, pertaining to life and death, and to the Nuremberg Trials that began shortly after their arrival. Victoria Walsh on Rena Stewart, the Bletchley Park linguist who translated testimonies for the Nuremberg trials and Hitler's will The trailblazers While there, Rena and her Bletchley pal Margery were given a top-secret extra task: to translate Hitler's will. The women were awe- struck by the responsibility and proceeded with great care. They discussed every word and every nuance, focusing in particular on the term kleinbürgerlich. This related to the not- too-luxurious lifestyle that Hitler wanted to bequeath his family. The dictionary said 'lower middle-class'; they opted for the anglicised 'petty-bourgeois', but worried that this might infer an unintended pejorative feel. Thus, they reinserted kleinbürgerlich in brackets. Rena and Margery didn't breathe a word of their mission, and didn't know what had happened to their work. However, in 1947, the bestseller The Last Days of Hitler by Hugh Trevor-Roper was published, and within the book Rena found their 'petty-bourgeois' translation. Other translations had been done, but Rena was pleased to note that theirs was the 'definitive' version. She admitted: "There was a certain pride in realising that it had been an acceptable piece of work." Rena had not intended to become a linguist; she had always wanted to work in the media. So on returning to the UK, she joined the BBC World Service. Unable to discuss her secret work experience, she started as a lowly clerk in the Eastern European and German departments. She spent 10 years listening in to Russian Cold War broadcasts (albeit in English) and worked her way up to become the first senior woman in the newsroom. The skills and determination she developed in her previous roles served her well in journalism. Although she was no longer a linguist, at the World Service she loved being surrounded by translators, foreign colleagues and other cultures. Even aged 100, she still listened to her beloved Lieder – her favourite was Morgen! by Richard Strauss. At the end, she emphasised wanting to be remembered as a good journalist, but she would definitely agree that languages played a huge part in her success. Victoria Walsh is a writer, linguist and communications professional. Her book The Story of Rena Stewart, published by Pen and Sword History, is out now.

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