28. Mr. Wilson Harrisasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he is yet in a position to announce a decision in the matter of speeding-up the publication of the British diplomatic documents for the years immediately preceding the outbreak of war.
§ Mr. MayhewAs the reply is rather long, I will, with permission, circulate it in the OFFICIAL REPORT.
Mr. HarrisI am obliged to the hon. Gentleman for his reply. To relieve my suspense, however, would he say whether there is a prospect of the early publication of the documents dealing with the years immediately preceding the war?
§ Mr. MayhewI have referred the hon. Member to my reply and I do not think that he will be disappointed with it.
§ Following is the reply:
§ Yes, Sir. About a year ago the Editor of the Documents on British Foreign Policy, 1919–1939, suggested that it might be desirable to publish out of the chronological sequence originally contemplated in 1944, a series of documents covering the period of Nazi territorial aggression. He felt that it would be incongrous, and probably to the disadvantage of this country, that the publication by the British, French and United States Governments of captured German diplomatic documents of this period should precede by several years the publication of the corresponding British documents. This view was reinforced by the appearance of a number of works by foreign statesmen giving their versions of the events of the pre-war period. In view of the amount of work involved, Professor Woodward though it desirable to begin the preparation of the volumes of documents to cover the period from the fall of Austria in 1938 to the outbreak of war. His Majesty's Government have now decided that these volumes should be published out of their normal sequence. Work on 893 the new series has reached the stage when it is hoped to publish the first volume about the end of this year and the second, 'taking the story down to Munich, shortly afterwards. Subsequent volumes would he published as soon as possible thereafter.