Evening star., 1943-08-23
War Crime TriuIs

War Crime IrIulS
President Roosevelt has served un-
equivocal notice on the leaders and
peoples Of the Axis countries that
they will be tried and punished for
their war crimes when the present
conflict ends in victory for the
United Nations. 1t Is easier to issue
this warning, however, than to set
up the machinery for carrying 1t
into effect.
This same question arose when
the First World War ended. During
the course Of that struggle many
atrocities were committed by the
Germans, and it was generally
agreed that the offenders should be
tried and punished. The right of
the Allies to try these war criminals
was recognized by Germany in the
Treaty of Versailles, but for variety
Of reasons this right was never exer-
ciSed Sheldon Glueck, writing in the
June issue of the Harvard Law Re-
view, has coupled a recital Of that
story with certain recommendation
for dealing with the same problem
when 1t arises after this war.
Although recognizing the right of
the Allies to try war criminals, Ger
many pleaded that delivery of the
offenders into Allied hands would
topple the peace structure in the
homeland, and she was permitted to
conduct the trials in the Supreme
Court OF the Reich at Leipzig after
guaranteeing impartial and firm
execution Of the proceedings.
The Allies had compiled a list of
some 900 persons accused OF serious
offenses. The Germans protested
vigorously, with the result that this
list finally was pared to forty-five
names. OF these only twelve actually
were brought to trial, and only six
were convicted. All of these received
inadequate sentences, and the two
whose sentences were most severe
soon escaped" from German jails.
The Allied mission sent to observe
the trials withdrew in protest, but
the fact remains that the Germans
responsible for the shocking crimes
OF that war escaped with little or no
punishment.
For this the United States must
assume large measure of blame.
The Commission on Responsibilities
after World War I, composed of dele
cations from the Allied Nations, had
proposed that the German war GRIM
1nals be tried by an International
Criminal Court on which all of the
Allied governments would be repre-
sented. But the American delega-
ton, supported, ironically enough, by
the japanese, demurred. 1t was
argued that the law which the
tribunal would apply was uncertain.
Some contended that the recognized
law OF humanity was adequate, but
the American delegates argued that
this was much like equity, which
they said was hopelessly uncertain.
In the end, the crimes of Germany
were forgotten in the heat of legal
istic quibbling, and the criminals
were turned loose. some Of them to
repeat their offenses two decades
later.
Mr.. Glueck contends that II the
world Is to avoid repetition of this
spectacle it is not too early to start
devising machinery that will give
force and substance to the trials of
the criminals who have f1outed every
law of humanity in this war. And
he adds the thought-with which
one can easily agree-that the early
announcement of the establishment
OF an international criminal tribunal
might have some deterrent effect on
those Axis leaders who will be
tempted to loose new waves of ter
rorism as they see themselves being
brought down to ruin.