Alma Soller McLay

Alma Florence Soller McLay (December 28, 1919 – April 5, 2017) was a member of Robert H. Jackson's team that prosecuted Nazi war criminals at Nuremberg after World War II.

Alma Soller McLay
BornDecember 28, 1919
Narrowsburg, New York, US
DiedApril 5, 2017
Torrance, California, US
OccupationStenographer
Known forMember of the U.S. team at the Nuremberg trials after World War II

Early life

Alma Florence Soller was born in Narrowsburg, New York, the daughter of George David Soller (1879-1928) and Margaret Slater Soller (1892-1990). She was raised on her parents' chicken farm with three older siblings, William, George, and Beulah.[1] She trained as a secretary before World War II.[2]

Nuremberg trials

Soller began to work for the United States Department of Defense in 1941. At the end of World War II she met then U.S. Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson, who asked her to join his team and document what would be the Nuremberg trials as transcriber,[2] together with Elsie L. Douglas.[3] Jackson's biographer, John Q. Barrett, said that McLay "probably never got the full credit she deserved for her work transcribing the testimony, often in various languages and in shorthand, and collating the evidence."[2] The nature of the recording technology used in the trials made audio records fragile, and the stenographers' work more critical in documenting the historic process.[4][5]

Personal life

Alma Soller later married Stanley McLay, an Air Force colonel and industrial economist,[6][7] and they moved to Rancho Palos Verdes, California in 1954. She had three children, Derek, Murdoch, and Alma.[2] Alma Soller McLay was widowed when Stanley died in 1991;[8] she died in 2017, aged 97 years,[6] in Torrance, California. She was the last surviving member of the 18-person American team at Nuremberg.[9][10]

References
  1. "Beulah M. Soller". Times Herald-Record. August 26, 2010. Retrieved 2020-06-18.
  2. Marble, Steve (10 April 2017). "Alma McLay, last surviving member of U.S. team that prosecuted Nazi war criminals at Nuremberg, dies at 97". Los Angeles Times.
  3. Jackson, Robert H. Report of Robert H. Jackson, United States Representative to the International Conference on Military Trials. Washington, DC: US GPO, 1949.
  4. Harland-Dunaway, Christopher (2019-04-25). "The original records of Nazi atrocities are at risk of being lost". The Verge. Retrieved 2020-06-18.
  5. Gaiba, Francesca (1998). The Origins of Simultaneous Interpretation: The Nuremberg Trial. University of Ottawa Press. ISBN 978-0-7766-0457-2.
  6. Grunwald-Spier, Agnes (2018-01-15). Women's Experiences in the Holocaust: In Their Own Words. Amberley Publishing Limited. ISBN 978-1-4456-7148-2.
  7. "Management Body to Hear Top Industrial Economist". San Bernardino Sun. December 3, 1957. p. 22. Retrieved Jun 17, 2020 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
  8. "Obituary for Stanley McLay, 1907-1991". News-Pilot. 1991-04-16. p. 10. Retrieved 2020-06-18 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. "Last Jackson Nuremberg Team Member Passes Away". Post-Journal. April 2017.
  10. "Alma Soller". The Times. May 8, 2017. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 2020-06-18.
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