CO537-4999 — Page 260

General

Policy

The Cabinet accepted the Lord Chancellor's

recommendations.

were made:

In further discussion, the following points

(a) These officers should now be released from custody. There would then be no means of preventing them from giving evidence for the defence in the trial of Field Marshal von Manstein.

(b) There would be no advantage in publishing the indictment against von Rundstedt and Strauss. If he was asked why they had been detained for so long, the Lord Chancellor might repeat the statement which he had already made in the House of Lords about the general nature of the case against von Rundstedt.

The Cabinet

(1) Agreed that in view of their physical con-

dition Field Marshal von Rundstedt and Colonel-General Strauss should not be put on trial and should be released forthwith.

(2)

Invited the Lord Chancellor to announce this

decision in the debate in the House of Lords that afternoon on war crimes policy.

The Cabinet were informed that the proposals regarding war crimes policy set out in C. P. (49) 94 had now been discussed with the United States and French Governments. They had been accepted subject to two points: (i) we had accepted the United States view that, in the case of crimes against humanity involving an Allied or United Nations victim, the accused should be tried by German courts only; and (ii) we had agreed with the United States Government that, in order to meet the views of the French Government, extradition should continue after 1st September next provided that it was limited to exceptional cases. In practice this would mean that extradition would only take place where there were prima facie grounds for a charge of murder and good reason could be shown for failure to apply for extradition before that date.

(3)

The Cabinet

Endorsed the proposals in C. P. (49) 94, subject

to amendment on the two points noted above, and agreed that they should be announced in the debate in the House of Lords that afternoon.

WESTERN UNION

(Previous Reference: C. M. (49) 31st Conclusions, Minute 1)

5.

The Cabinet considered a memorandum by the Lord President (C. P. (49) 98) submitting recommendations regarding the basis of British representation on the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe.

This proposed that, for the first meeting of the Assembly, British representation should be divided between the political Parties in proportion to their strength in the House of Commons. Most of the repre- sentatives should be drawn from the House of Commons, but it should be open to the Government to include in the British Delegation suitable members of the House of Lords. Persons who were not in either House of

-4-

Page 260Page 261