The United Nations War Crimes Commission organized a subcommittee to study the possibility of war criminals claiming that they were simply following orders in post-war trials.
On this day 7th March 1944. The United Nations War Crimes Commission organized a subcommittee to study the possibility of war criminals claiming that they were simply following orders in post-war trials. The United Nations War Crimes Commission (UNWCC) was inaugurated on October 20, 1943, by representatives of the seventeen Allied nations. It was the only international framework that dealt with the issue of war crimes and war criminals during World War 2. The commission continued to operate until March 31, 1948, and in the course of its four-and-a-half years had created a total of 8,178 files (representing 36,810 individuals and groups). The Soviet Union put up the greatest obstacles to the establishment of the UNWCC. Moscow had been piqued by the fact that London had ignored the Soviet Union during the preliminary stages of the establishment of the Commission and had appealed to the Soviet Union for support only at the last moment. In January 1943 Moscow responded in a positive manne