740.0011 Moscow/279
The British Prime Minister (Churchill) to President Roosevelt and the Chairman of the Soviet Council of People’s Commissars (Stalin)73
Please consider the following with a view as to whether something like it might not be issued over our three signatures:
“Great Britain, the United States and the Soviet Union (in whatever order is thought convenient, we being quite ready to be last) have received from many quarters evidence of the atrocities, massacres and cold-blooded mass executions which are being perpetrated by the Hitlerite forces in the many countries they have overrun and from which they are now being steadily expelled. The brutalities of the Nazi domination are no new thing, and all peoples or territories in their grip have suffered from the worst forms of government by terror. What is new is that many of these territories are now being redeemed by the advancing armies of the liberating powers and that, in their desperation, the recoiling Hitlerites and Huns are redoubling their ruthless cruelties.74
“Accordingly the aforesaid three Allied powers, speaking in the interest of the thirty-two United Nations, hereby solemnly declare, and give full warning of their declaration, as follows:
“‘At the time of the granting of any armistice to any government which may be set up in Germany, those German officers and men and members of the Nazi Party, who have been responsible for or have taken a consenting part in the above atrocities, massacres and executions, will be sent back to the countries in which their abominable deeds were done in order that they may be judged and punished according to the laws of these liberated countries and the free governments which will be erected therein. Lists will be compiled in all possible detail from all these countries, having regard especially to the invaded parts of Russia, to Poland and Czechoslovakia, to Yugoslavia, Greece, including Crete and other islands, to Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxemburg, France and Italy. Thus Germans who take part in the wholesale shootings of Italian officers or in the execution of French, Dutch, Belgian or Norwegian hostages, or of Cretan peasants, or who have shared in the slaughters inflicted on the people of Poland or in the territories of the Soviet Republic which are now being swept clear of the enemy, will know that they will be brought back, regardless of expense, to the scene of their crimes and judged on the spot by the peoples whom they have outraged. Let those who have hitherto not imbrued their hands with innocent blood beware lest they join the ranks of the guilty, for most assuredly the three Allied powers will pursue them to the uttermost ends of the earth and will deliver them to their accusers in order that justice may be done.’
“The above declaration is without prejudice to the case of the major criminals, whose offences have no particular geographical localization. Signed Roosevelt, Stalin, Churchill.”
I am not particular about the phraseology, but if this, or something like this, were issued over our three signatures, I believe it would make some of these villains reluctant to be mixed up in butcheries now they realize they are going to be defeated. We know, for example, that the severities inflicted on the Polish people were mitigated by our threats of reprisals. Use of the terror-weapon by the enemy without doubt imposes on our armies an additional burden. Moral scruples may be developed by many Germans if they know they are to be brought back to the country, and perhaps the very place, where their cruelties were inflicted. This principle and policy of the localization of judgment has been endorsed by the British Cabinet, and I strongly commend it to you as likely to deter enemy terrorism.75
- Transmitted by Lt. Col. Chester Hammond of the White House Staff to Acting Secretary of State Stettinius on October 13, 1943, with a note stating that the President desired his comments and recommendations with reference to the message.↩
- For correspondence concerning Allied declarations and warnings regarding Nazi atrocities and concerning the establishment of the United Nations Commission for the Investigation of War Crimes, see pp. 402 ff.↩
- Mr. Stettinius replied the same day in a memorandum for the President: “I am in hearty accord with the attached suggestion of the Prime Minister but believe it should be issued from Moscow towards the close of the conference there to indicate to the world that the fate of these unhappy people was not overlooked in this great tripartite discussion.” See telegram No. 1014, October 18, 8 p.m., to the American delegation, p. 566.↩