I. Memorandum to President Roosevelt from the Secretaries of State and War and the
Attorney General, January 22, 1945
Note: While Justice Jackson was considering acceptance of the designation to represent the United States, the following memorandum was furnished to him as a statement of the position already taken by the Government. It had been prepared to guide President Roosevelt when he attended the Yalta Conference. For early planning which it embodies see Henry L. Stimson, On Active Service in Peace and War, New York, 1948, vol. II, p. 584; Murray C. Bernays, "Legal Basis of the Nürnberg Trials", Survey Graphic, Jan. 1946, vol. 35, p. 4; and Robert H. Jackson, The Nürnberg Case, New York, 1947, p. v. At Yalta no action was taken other than an agreement for later consideration by the governments there represented.
The memorandum is initialed by H.L.S.-Henry L. Stimson, Secretary of War; E.S.-Edward R. Stettinius, Jr., Secretary of State; and F.B.Francis Biddle, Attorney General. It formed the groundwork of the later drafts submitted by the United States for an international agreement. This is sometimes referred to as the "Yalta memorandum” and sometimes as the "Crimean proposal."
MEMORANDUM FOR THE PRESIDENT
Subject: Trial and Punishment of Nazi War Criminals.
This memorandum deals with ways and means for carrying out the policy regarding the trial and punishment of Nazi criminals, as established in the statements on that subject which are annexed.
I. The Moscow Declaration
In the Moscow Declaration the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Soviet Union took note of the atrocities perpetrated by the Germans and laid down the policy: (1) that those German officers and men who have been responsible for or have taken a consenting part in these atrocities "will be sent back to the countries in which their abominable deeds were done in order that they may be judged