740.00116 European War 1939/621
Memorandum by Mr. Theodore C. Achilles of the Division of European Affairs to the Under Secretary of State ( Welles )
Mr. Welles: A telegram dated October 17 from the British Foreign Office to the British Ambassador at Moscow concerning the proposal for a United Nations Commission to Investigate War Crimes has been repeated to the Embassy here.
It stated that a proposal for the establishment of such a Commission had been communicated, with the approval of this Government, to the Soviet Ambassador in London on October 3 but that no reply had been received from the Soviet Government unless the statement issued by the Tass Agency on October 15 was considered a reply. The Ambassador was advised that an official reply in due course was expected.
The telegram continued that the British press had shown special interest in the portion of the Tass statement dealing with Rudolf Hess. Guidance had accordingly been given the press to the effect that the production of evidence before the proposed United Nations Commission would be an essential preliminary to any further measures such as those suggested. Attention was also drawn to a statement in the House of Commons by the Parliamentary Under Secretary for Foreign Affairs41a on October 14 that any Allied Government was at liberty to submit evidence as to persons responsible for war crimes, either as ringleaders or as perpetrators.42 The Ambassador in Moscow was advised for his own information that there were strong objections of a technical character against the establishment of a special international tribunal to deal with war crimes and that Hess was not a good [Page 63] case as he had been in England since May 10, 1941 while the worst atrocities, including all those in Russia, had been committed later.
In the House of Commons today Eden announced Hess will not go on trial until after the war.43