§ 46. Mr. BOTTOMLEYasked the Prime Minister whether he will give the names of German officers and others whom the British Government accuses of crimes against the laws of warfare; whether any of such persons have yet been brought to trial, and, if not, what progress has been made with a view to bringing them before the Court; and whether at the trial Britain will be represented by one of the Law Officers of the Crown?
48. Lieut.-Colonel Sir F. HALLasked the Prime Minister if his attention has been called to the heavy sentences which have been passed by the Supreme Court at Leipzig on obscure war culprits for comparatively innocuous offences; and if he will state what steps are being taken to secure the trial and punishment of the highly placed war criminals with whose responsibility he dealt with special emphasis in speeches he delivered in December, 1918?
§ The ATTORNEY-GENERAL (Sir Gordon Hewart)I have been asked to answer these questions. In accordance with Article 228 of the Treaty of Peace with Germany, lists of accused persons were prepared by the principal Allied and Associated Governments, and after careful investigation of the evidence available in each case a final list was compiled and presented to the German Government on the 3rd February, 1920. The German Government represented that grave political difficulties would ensue if the Allied and Associated Governments insisted upon the surrender of the persons accused and proposed that the persons accused should be tried by the Supreme Court in Leipzig. An Inter-Allied Commission was set up to examine this suggestion, and it was ultimately decided that 269 trial at Leipzig should in the first place be accepted in certain selected cases, chosen as cases in which to test the bona fides of the German Government.
On the 7th May, 1920, a shorter list containing 45 names was accordingly prepared and handed to the German Government. To this list His Majesty's Government contributed the following seven names r—
Lieut.-Commander Patzig, who was charged with having sunk without warning the hospital ship "Llandovery Castle," and with having afterwards fired on and sunk the boats containing the survivors with the consequent loss of 234 lives;
Lieut.-Commander Neumann, who was charged with having torpedoed without warning the British hospital ship "Dover Castle" when homeward bound from the Eastern Mediterranean fully laden with sick and wounded, with the loss of six lives;
Lieut.-Commander Werner, who was charged with having sunk the British s.s. "Torrington" and with having subsequently drowned the whole of the crew, with the exception of the master, by submerging while they were on the deck of the submarine; and
Neumann, Trienke, Muller and Heinz, who were charged with acts of cruelty to prisoners of war at various prison camps in Germany.
The German Government next represented to the Allied Governments that difficulties were being experienced in obtaining evidence against the persons accused, and at a joint conference at Spa, held, on the 9th July, 1920, it was accordingly arranged that the Allied Governments should collect and provide statements of the evidence against the persons whose names appeared in the short list and transmit them direct to the Attorney-General at Leipzig. It was further agreed that to avoid the delay inseparable from communications passing through the usual diplomatic channels the Attorney-General at Leipzig was to be at liberty to communicate direct with the Chief Law Officer of each of the Allied countries (in this country His Majesty's Attorney-General) for any further information which he might possibly require to enable the charges to be established. His 270 Majesty's Government immediately put in hand the. completion of the evidence against the persons whom they had named and, on the 26th October, 1920, a printed volume containing the complete evidence in the cases in which they were concerned was delivered to the German Ambassador in London for transmission to the Attorney-General at Leipzig. All enquiries and requests for further evidence received from the Attorney-General at Leipzig in these seven cases have, as far as possible, been dealt with.
Up to the present His Majesty's Government have not received information that any one of the selected cases has been brought to trial. Various technical difficulties have been raised by the German Authorities, but it is in direct conflict with the facts to state, as has recently been stated, that some of the cases have been settled by agreement or otherwise.
§ Sir G. HEWARTNo. My right hon. Friend will remember that in the Treaty the person to whom he refers was dealt with in a separate article.
Colonel C. LOWTHERIs it not the intention of the British Government to enforce the trial of these criminals if they are not dealt with by the Leipzig Court?
§ Sir G. HEWARTUndoubtedly it is.
§ Mr. BOTTOMLEYWas it one of the conditions in the Allied Note to Germany agreeing to the trial of these men in Germany that the trial should take place immediately—18 months ago?
§ Sir G. HEWARTI do not know that the word "immediately" was used.
§ Mr. BOTTOMLEYYes, the word "immediately."
§ Sir G. HEWARTIt may be so, but I should be surprised to see that word in a document contemplating all the preliminary procedure, not only of a criminal trial, but of a criminal trial of enemies, conducted in one country when the evidence against them has to be collected in another. Undoubtedly the general inten- 271 tion of the Allies was that no time should be lost.
§ Mr. BOTTOMLEYWhy not have the trial over here?
§ Sir G. HEWARTI have already dealt with that in the answer which T have read.
Sir F. HALLHas the attention of the right hon. Gentleman been drawn to the case of three men charged with plundering an inn in Belgium in October, 1914, who have been sentenced to five and four years' penal servitude, and two years' imprisonment? Does he recognise that these are not among the cases brought forward by the Government, and will the Government take every step possible to bring to justice these criminals against whom the Government have sent information to the German Government?
§ Sir HARRY BRITTA1NHas a promise been extracted from the German Government that no passports will be issued to any of these individuals to enable them to leave Germany before their trial can take place?
§ Mr. BOTTOMLEYSome of them have left.
§ Mr. RAWLINSONHave any of these officers been arrested for these crimes?
§ Sir G. HEWARTI am aware of the case to which the hon. Member (Sir F. Hall) refers in the sense that I have read of it in the newspapers. Whether in the circumstances the offences can be described as comparatively innocuous I cannot say. With regard to the more serious offences, undoubtedly every step will be taken. Hitherto, until, at any rate, the end of last year, it was not possible to say that there had been unreasonable delay. I think that the time has come when it is possible. I am not aware of passports, in the circumstances referred to by my hon. Friend (Sir H. Brittain), having been refused, and I believe, as a fact, that some at any rate of these accused persons are under arrest.
§ Mr. PERCYIs it not desirable that a time limit should be given to Germany for the trial of these persons?