Paul-Otto Schmidt, (1899-1970) was an interpreter working in the German foreign ministry where he served from 1923 to 1945. He was fluent in English and French and was the main interpreter for Adolf Hitler during the key pre-war moments, such as the Munich Agreement, the British Declaration of War and the surrender of France. During the war years he served as Hitler's interpreter during his meetings with Marshal Philippe Petain and Francisco Franco. After the 1942 Dieppe Raid resulted in thousands of Canadian soldiers captured, Schmidt was in charge of their interrogations. Schmidt joined the NSDAP in 1943. Arrested in May 1945, Schmidt was freed by the Americans in 1948. In 1946 he testified at the Nuremberg Trials, where conversations with him were noted down by psychiatrist Leon Goldensohn and later published. In 1947, he testified for the prosecution against the directors of I. G. Farben. He later taught at the Sprachen and Dolmetscher Institute in Munich, and he retired in 1967.

Introduction the 2016 Edition; Editor's Preface; 1: 1935 Becoming the Interpreter; 2 :1936 From Litvinov to Lloyd George; 3: 1937 From Lansbury to Lord Halifax; 4: 1938 From Mussolini to Munich; 5: 1939 From Ribbentrop's Echo to Hitler's 'What Now?'; 6: 1940 From Ciano to Admiral Darlan; 7: 1941 From Molotov to War with America; 8: 1942-1943 From Wolfschanze to Stalingrad; 9: 1944-1945 From Italy's Capitulation to the War's End; Postscript 1945-1949.