Europe and the Soviet Union
William D. Krimer: From Russia and Nazi Germany to American Diplomacy
Twice uprooted as a boy, he became the voice of American presidents in summits with Soviet leaders.
- Fled
- Russia and Nazi Germany
- Status
- Fled persecution
- Arrived in the U.S.
- 1941
- Service
- Chief Russian interpreter, U.S. Department of State (1963 to 1982)
- Region
- Europe and the Soviet Union
William Krimer was born in Petrograd in 1915. His family fled to Germany by way of Latvia in 1921, and, being Jewish, left Germany for England after the Nazis came to power. He came to the United States in 1941.
He joined the Department of State as a Russian interpreter in 1962 and was its chief Russian interpreter from 1963 to 1982. He interpreted at the Glassboro talks in 1967, President Nixon's 1972 Moscow summit, the Carter-Brezhnev meeting in Vienna in 1979, and the Reagan-Gorbachev summit in Geneva.
Read the history behind this story on the The Soviet Union page, or browse all the diplomats.