7199 - Edward Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax Typed Letter Signed to the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg on Konstantin von Neurath

Edward Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax Typed Letter Signed to the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg on Konstantin von Neurath Senior British Conservative politician of the 1930s (1881-1959) who held several senior ministerial posts during this time, most notably those of Viceroy of India from 1925 to 1931 and of Foreign Secretary between 1938 and 1940; on Neville Chamberlain's resignation early in May 1940, Halifax effectively declined the position of Prime Minister as he felt that Churchill would be a more suitable war leader. TLS signed “Halifax,” two pages, 8 x 12.75, March 22, 1946. Letter headed, "Reply to Interrogatory submitted by the Counsel for the Defence of Freiherr von Neurath in the present trial before the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg by the Right Honourable the Earl of Halifax, His Britannic Majesty's Ambassador at Washington, D.C.," recording responses to three questions put to Lord Halifax by von Neurath's defense counsel, asking whether, during his November 1937 visit to Berlin, Halifax told von Neurath (then Reich Foreign Minister) that the English people would not understand going to war over a union of Germany and Austria, and whether Halifax gave von Neurath to understand that Britain had no objection to and would not oppose the Anschluss, and whether he repeated the same to Hitler at Berchtesgaden. Halifax's reply, in full: "All that I remember saying, either to Hitler or von Neurath, on the matter referred to in the above three questions is as follows:—I made it clear that it was not necessarily the policy of His Majesty's Government to stand for the status quo in Europe as it existed in November 1937. We were, however, directly concerned to see that the various questions which we had discussed—Anschluss Dansig, Sudeten Deutsch—should be handled by negotiation and not by force, and with the free assent and goodwill of those primarily concerned." Signed at the conclusion in ballpoint by Halifax, and countersigned and stamped by Hubert Norton Pullar, certifying the ambassador's signature. In fine condition, with the signed page backed by lightweight cardstock. Halifax’s response went directly to one of the central issues in von Neurath’s defense against the charge of crimes against peace: whether German demands concerning Austria and other disputed territories could still have appeared, in late 1937, to be legitimate subjects for diplomatic negotiation rather than steps in a predetermined program of conquest. Halifax had visited Hitler at Berchtesgaden on November 19, 1937, accompanied by von Neurath, and publicly described the trip days later as an effort to promote closer Anglo-German understanding. Von Neurath’s counsel sought to use Halifax’s recollection to show that Britain itself had contemplated peaceful revision of the European status quo, including questions surrounding Austria, Danzig, and the Sudeten Germans. The prosecution, however, possessed the sharply contrasting Hossbach Memorandum, recording a secret November 5 conference—just two weeks before Halifax met Hitler—at which Hitler discussed territorial expansion and the possible use of force against Austria and Czechoslovakia, with von Neurath himself in attendance. Halifax’s signed testimony therefore captures a striking collision between the diplomatic face presented to Britain in November 1937 and the expansionist planning being discussed inside Hitler’s leadership circle at virtually the same moment. The defense's argument did not prevail. The Tribunal found von Neurath guilty on all four counts of the indictment and, on October 1, 1946, sentenced him to 15 years’ imprisonment.