WAR CRIMINALS
SIR,—In The Spectator of October 6th, Lord Cecil deals faithfully with the duty of trying and punishing Hitler and his chief accomplices in monstrous crimes. You did me the honour of printing a letter from me on August 27th, 1943, on the wider aspect of the war criminals in general. That the vast bulk of the thinking people of this country are resolved that these crimes shall be brought home to the Germans is undoubted, and both the British and American Governments are committed to this policy. But in my letter in 1943 I emphasised the urgency of setting up machinery to deal with this difficult problem. So far as I know, there is only in existence the official United Nations Commission limited by its terms to marshalling such evidence as is offered to' it. Surely what is required is a prosecuting Commission, who, on information obtained, whether from the Press or elsewhere, will send out its own special
police to enquire and mako arrests.
First, the nature of the crimes should be defined—the unofficial Inter- Allied War Crimes Commission set up by the London International Assembly prepared a fairly comprehensive list—the indictment should be framed, and the warrant executed. For some, such as Hitler and Himmler, whose mass crimes cry out to high heaven, it would be merely a case of identification—and we all know that Hitler is easily impersonated end with a trifling change in lus hirsute adornment easily disguised. No trial would be necessary for the avowed Nazi leaders, but merely Ail indictment to be recorded in history.
But as we go down the scale quasi-legal methods of trial might be considered desirable so far as concerns crimes against British or American nationals. Mr. Louis Nizer in his remarkable book, What to do with Germany, points the way at p. 75, et seq. It is probable that the proposal of the unofficial Commission—that Germans and their satellites who committed war crimes in occupied countries will, when caught, be handed over to the competent authorities of those countries—will be adopted, and the French, Belgian, Dutch, Norwegian, Czech, Polish, Greek and Yugo- Slav authorities may be left to deal with them as they think fit But surely there must be no delay in setting up some organisation such as suggested above, with a careful choice of men for this duty of apprehension,
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