740.00116 European War 1939/616: Telegram
The Chargé in the Soviet Union (Henderson) to the Secretary of State
[Received October 22—12:48 a.m.]
909. Embassy’s 905, October 19, 10 a.m.41 Pravda of October 19 devotes its leading editorial to the note in question. The first half of this editorial consists largely of a summary of the note. In its latter portion it restates the view of the Soviet Government that any Hitlerite leaders who have fallen into the hands of the Allies should be tried and punished immediately. Laying special emphasis on this point, the editorial then makes special reference to Hess, urging that he be brought to trial at once and criticizing British personages and newspapers which have expressed disagreement with this point of view. It alleges that Hess is not an ordinary prisoner of war and should not be treated as such, stating that he is a well-known Nazi [Page 62] leader, he fled from Germany to escape ultimate punishment by an international tribunal, planning to “convert England into a place of refuge for gangsters”.
The editorial reaffirms agreement with the President’s declaration in his speech of October 12, [apparent omission] quoted in itself, and comments said that he said nothing to indicate that the punishment of Nazi leaders should be deferred. It then states that it is necessary to establish who Hess is at present, since if he is not tried now the question arises whether he is to be regarded as a criminal subject to prosecution or as a plenipotentiary representative of the Hitlerite Government in England enjoying inviolability.
- Not printed; it transmitted a translation of the Soviet note of October 14, 1942, to the Czechoslovak Minister at Kuibyshev.↩