740.00116 E.W./10–444: Telegram
The Ambassador in the United Kingdom (Winant) to the Secretary of State
[Received October 4—11:30 p.m.]
8316. A number of questions were asked in the House of Commons this morning regarding the punishment of war criminals. The answers are summarized below:
Mr. Eden stated that crimes of the German authorities against German democrats and anti-Nazis, such as the recent murder of internees at Buchenwald Concentration Camp, were in a different category from the war crimes envisaged by the Allies, and that he could not agree that the terms of the War Crimes Commission should be broadened to include them. In reply to another question he stated that the British Government had received an assurance from the Spanish Government that it will deny asylum to any Fascists or Nazi war criminals whom the Allies desire to bring to judgment; and that he understood a similar assurance had been given to the United [Page 1381] States.5 In reply to a supplementary question of the same kind regarding Portugal, Mr. Eden said he was not sure of the position and would have to have notice of the question. The Prime Minister, in replying to a question, said that Hitler, Goering, Goebbels and Himmler are on the British list of war criminals but that he could not speak for the United Nations; it should not be assumed, however, that these persons would be granted a formal trial.