Memorandum by Mr. Harry L. Hopkins, Special Assistant to President Roosevelt 30
Hull said he hoped that we could find a way to avoid any longwinded trials of Hitler and his principal associates after the war; that he hoped we could find a way to get the ones that should be shot and do it quietly. He said he thought a public trial would be very bad; [Page 26] that we should settle with Hitler in the same way he would handle us if he were to do it.
We discussed, for some time, the question of precisely what our procedure in Germany would be during the first 6 months after the collapse of Germany.
I said I thought there was no understanding between Great Britain, Russia and ourselves as to which armies would be where and what kind of administration should be developed. I said that unless we acted promptly and surely I believed one of two things would happen—either Germany will go Communist or out and out anarchic state would set in; that, indeed, the same kind of thing might happen in any of the countries in Europe and Italy as well. I said I thought it required some kind of formal agreement and that the State Department should work out the plan with the British and the one agreed upon between the two of us should then be discussed with the Russians. The President agreed that this procedure should be followed. It will, obviously, be a much simpler matter if the British and American armies are heavily in France or Germany at the time of the collapse but we should work out a plan in case Germany collapses before we get to France.
Hull expressed his pleasure that Great Britain and the United States seemed to be getting closer together on the French question.
The President discussed the importance of the United Nations holding certain strong points like Bizerte, Dakar and the Harbor of Formosa after the war. These should be held by the United Nations.
- Copy obtained from the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, N.Y.↩