Hurry Up

The world wondered at the delay in trying war criminals. The Big Three wondered too. On this point they found no basic differences of view, told their subordinates on the War Crimes Commission in London to hurry up.

The Potsdam communique promised publication by Sept. 1 of a list of defendants whose crimes have "no particular geographical localization." These include such top Nazis as Goering and Ribbentrop, who will be tried by a joint four-power military tribunal (although nearly all of them are in U.S. hands).

Behind the delay in London were such fundamental questions as juridical responsibility of heads-of-state and their higher subordinates, and whether the act of aggressive war should be considered a crime in itself. But narrower legal points had accounted for most of the recent discussion. Example: should the indictments be short (Anglo-American practice), or an almost complete statement of the prosecution's case (Continental practice)? A French expert described the resulting compromise: "A Continental lawyer looking at the document will object because it is based on Saxon law; a Saxon lawyer will claim it's based on Continental law--this proves it is good."

That familiar plague of practical internationalism--language trouble--had also contributed to the delay. Even before the Potsdam statement needled the London conference to faster action, the British, French and Russian legalists working with U.S. Prosecutor Robert H. Jackson had reached substantial agreement. The joint "master trial" (probably in the Nuernberg Court House) will be followed by thousands of local trials in each of the injured countries.

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