740.00116 European War 1939/657
The First Secretary of the British Foreign
Office (Roberts) to the First Secretary
of the American Embassy in the United Kingdom (Gallman)44
No. C10710/61/18
[London,] 18 November, 1942.
Dear Mr. Gallman: I enclose a copy of a further
note which we addressed on the 29th October to the Soviet Ambassador,
the Chinese Chargé d’Affaires and the representatives of the Allied
Governments established in London on the subject of war criminals. A
semi-official communication on similar lines was addressed to the French
National Committee and we are of course also in touch with the Dominions
Governments and the Government of India.
I regret the delay in communicating a copy of this note to you. You will
see that it follows closely the lines of the two documents which Mr.
Winant communicated in July last at the request of the War Cabinet
Committee on War Criminals to the United States Government, who
signified their general approval before the statements made by President
Roosevelt and Lord Simon, on the 7th October. Owing to an oversight
arising out of the fact that your Government had already agreed to these
proposals, we failed to send a copy of this note of the 29th October to
the Allied Representatives in London to Mr. Winant at the time.
Yours sincerely,
[Enclosure]
The British Secretary of State for Foreign
Affairs (Eden) to the Soviet
Ambassador in the United Kingdom (Maisky)45
No. C10375/61/18
[London,] 29 October, 1942.
Your Excellency: I transmitted to Your
Excellency under cover of my note of the 9th October the text of the
statement by the Lord Chancellor in the House of Lords on the 7th
October in which inter alia he outlined the
proposals of His Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom with
regard to the establishment of a United
[Page 64]
Nations Commission for the investigation of war
crimes. I now have the honour to transmit herewith a memorandum46
setting forth, in amplification of the Lord Chancellor’s statement,
the views of His Majesty’s Government on the constitution and
functions of the proposed Commission.
- 2.
- His Majesty’s Government propose that the United Nations
Commission should be a fact-finding body. As stated by the
Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs in the House
of Commons on the 14th October, its functions will be to record
the evidence submitted to it by the Governments concerned
against all individuals responsible, whether as ring-leaders or
as actual perpetrators, for the commission of atrocities. It
will be open to the Governments concerned to submit to the
Commission any such evidence against the persons so responsible,
whoever they may be. The aim should be to collect material about
the principal war crimes, especially those which have been or
are being systematically committed. Every effort should be made
to obtain the names of those responsible for the perpetration of
particular crimes in addition to verifying the occurrence. It is
proposed that the reports of the Commission should be available
for publication. These reports might also contain material upon
which decisions might be taken regarding the treatment of war
criminals.
- 3.
- His Majesty’s Government consider that membership of the
Commission should be confined to nationals of the United
Nations, and that in the first place the Governments of the
following countries might be invited to appoint
representatives:—The United Kingdom, The United States of
America, The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, China,
Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Greece, Luxemburg, The Netherlands,
Norway, Poland and Yugoslavia. His Majesty’s Government also
consider that war crimes committed by Germany in occupied France
should be regarded as coming within the scope of the
Commission’s investigations, and that for this reason special
provision should be made for French representation on the
Commission.
- 4.
- In the opinion of His Majesty’s Government it would be
preferable to constitute a single Commission which might if this
were thought desirable sit from time to time in two or more
panels in different countries. The whole Commission would
examine the conclusions of the panels before reporting to the
Governments of the United Nations.
- 5.
- His Majesty’s Government would welcome any observations which
Your Excellency’s Government may have to offer on the foregoing
proposals which are also being communicated to the other
Governments concerned.
I have the honour [etc.]
(For the Secretary of State)
F.
K. Roberts
