[see too: Eden
submitted a Cabinet paper WP(44)423 (?)
with lists of war criminals to be dealt
with in Germany and Italy. The War Office
summarized its content]
At
Hyde Park, NY, on September 17, 1944
Churchill sent over to Roosevelt a draft
telegram typed on No. 10 Downing Street
notepaper. He suggested they send it to Stalin. It
recalled an earlier Churchill draft
approved by the Moscow conference of
foreign ministers that preceded
Teheran. His September 1944 memorandum
recommended "local punishment of war
criminals ... at the scenes where their
atrocities had been committed." But what should be done with
ringleaders, like Hitler, Himmler,
Göring, Goebbels, and Ribbentrop, "
whose offences have no particular
geographical localization"? To Churchill
the method of trial, conviction and
judicial sentence seemed
inappropriate. Closely following Morgenthau's infamous
loose-leaf "book" Churchill's draft would
have inquired of Stalin, "Would you consider whether a
list could not be prepared of say 50 to
100 persons whose responsibilities for
directing or impelling the whole
process of crime and atrocity is (SIC)
established by the fact of their
holding certain high offices?" The United Nations should declare the
lives of these "world outlaws" forfeit.
"The nearest General Officer," was
Churchill's suggestion, "will convene a
Court for the sole purpose of establishing
their identity, and when this has been
done will have them shot within one
hour." Source:
"Draft of a suggested telegram to be
sent by the President and the Prime
Minister to Marshal Stalin," September
17, 1944. FDR Library.
Eden
circulates Churchill's draft to the
Cabinet members on October 3,
1944: On October 3, 1944 Eden circulated to
members of Mr Churchill's Cabinet a
telegram which the prime minister proposed
that he and Roosevelt should address to
Marshal Stalin. After reminding the Soviet
dictator of the conclusions reached at
Moscow and Teheran a year previously, the
draft continued: It has now become important
for us to reach agreement about the
treatment of these major criminals.
Would you
[Stalin]
consider whether a list could not be
prepared of say 50 to 100 persons whose
responsibilities for directing or
impelling the whole process of crime
and atrocity is established by the fact
of their holding certain high offices.
Such a list would not of course be
exhaustive. New names could be added at
any time. It is proposed that these
persons should be declared, on the
authority of the United Nations, to be
world outlaws and that upon any of them
falling into Allied hands the Allies
will decide how they are to be disposed
of and the execution of this decision
will be carried out immediately . Or,
alternatively, the nearest General
offcer will convene a Court for the
sole purpose of establishing their
identity, and when this has been done
will have them shot within six hours
without reference to higher authority.2. It would seem that the method of
trial, conviction and judicial sentence
is quite inappropriate for notorious
ringleaders such as Hitler, Himmler,
Goering, Goebbels, and Ribbentrop.
Apart from the formidable difficulties
of constituting the Court, formulating
the charge and assembling the evidence,
the question of their fate is a
political and not a judicial one. It
could not rest with judges however
eminent or learned to decide finally a
matter like this which is of the widest
and most vital public policy. The
decision must be the joint decision of
the Governments of the Allies. This in
fact was expressed in the Moscow
Declaration. 3. There would seem to be advantages
in publishing a list of names. At the
present time, Hitler and his leading
associates know that their fate will be
sealed when the German Army and people
cease to resist. It therefore costs
them nothing to go on giving orders to
fight to the last man, die in the last
ditch &c. As long as they can
persuade the German people to do this,
they continue to live on the fat of the
land and have exalted employments. They
represent themselves and the German
people as sharing the same rights and
fate. Once however their names are
published and they are isolated, the
mass of the German people will infer
rightly that there is a difference
between these major criminals and
themselves. A divergence of interests
between the notorious leaders and their
dupes will become apparent. This may
lead to undermining the authority of
the doomed leaders and to setting their
own people against them, and thus may
help the break up of Germany. Source:
Eden, War Cabinet Paper, WP(44)555,
Draft of a Suggested Telegram to be
sent by the President and the Prime
Minister to Marshal Stalin, Oct 3, 1944
(PRO file CAB.66/56).
STALIN
HOWEVER TURNED THE PROPOSAL DOWN: SEE
MOSCOW CONFERENCE
Letter
from the Lord Chancellor, Sir John Simon,
to Lord Halifax, Nov 11, 1944, about War
Criminals, recommending (between the
lines) their summary
execution: "I may say that my own view strongly is
that the question of what is to be done
with the top war criminals is not really
suitable to be decided by juridical
process. It is essentially a political
question and must be settled by the
governments of the principal States. I
have been joining with the P.M. and others
in consultation on this point and I
believe that the P.M. developed this view
when he last saw the President in Quebec.
It is a difficult problem which is as yet,
as I understand, not decided. In any case,
it would be, I should think, very unwise
to make announcements about it at this
stage, for we have to consider the
possibility of reprisals against British
and American airmen now in German hands
whom the Germans might, if too far
provoked, arrange to put on trial now on
the charge of bombing objectives which are
not military in character." Source:
Halifax papers, Borthwick Institute,
York, England. A4.410.4.14: |
write to David
Irving