from Mrs. Dales
In the Federal Republic all persecutions for war crimes will end on May 8th, 1965, in accordance with the 20 year rule. The West German authorities _ have refused to make special exceptions for nazi crimes, in spite of the fact that nazi crimes fall in quite a different category from “ordinary crimes", for which the 20-year rule would apply. The London Agreement of August 1945, and other International Agreements had made nazi crimes a subject of International _ Law, and National Law could not apply. It is to be regretted that there has been no comment in the British press on this issue, Recently Dr. Kempner, deputy US prosecutor at the Nuremberg Trial, stated that only about one-seventh of the war criminals had hitherto been dealt with; the other six-sevenths, including many major war criminals, were just waiting for the 20-year rule to come into force,
Madame Pierie Pador, a lawyer at the Paris bar and the chairman of the French Survivors from Ravensbruck, has approached my committce* asking for support and assistance to stage an exhibition "The French Women in Ravensbruckt in London. We feel that such an exhibition would not only demonstrate our debt to courageous woren of France, but it would focus attention on the serious situation arising out of the West German Government's decision, We appeal to all for help in staging the exhibition - particularly financial help. If we are able to raise sufficient funds to hire a hall in London, the exhibition will be staged the first two weeks in February. *Defence Committee for Victims of Nazi Persecution, 12, First Ave. Gillingham.