Winston Churchill believed Adolf Hitler should be executed without trial if he fell into British hands at the end of the Second World War, a view that put the Prime Minister on a collision course with his political allies.
The wartime leader argued passionately in cabinet meetings that Hitler was 'the mainspring of evil' and 'an outlaw', and said trials of top Nazis would simply be a 'farce'. His views contrasted sharply with those of the Russians and Americans who advocated trials to determine the fate of the Nazi leaders.
According to the wartime cabinet minutes, Churchill said the idea of what he believed would be mock trials was objectionable. 'It is really a political act: better to declare that. We shall put them to death,' Churchill said.
During a cabinet meeting on 14 December, 1942, he observed that 'if Hitler falls into our hands we shall certainly put him to death'. In what appears to be a grim joke, and a nod to executions used by his US allies, he suggested the 'electric chair, for gangsters, no doubt available on lease lend'.
But, as the war reached its climax, the cabinet had become aware of the reservations of the Allies. 'I would take no responsibility for a trial, even though the US want it,' Churchill observes. 'Execute the principal criminals as outlaws - if no ally wants them.'
Viscount Swinton, then Minister for Civil Aviation, was noted as telling the same meeting: 'However much we may favour summary execution, don't believe you will get Allied agreement. US won't and I gather Stalin won't. We must therefore compromise or proceed unilaterally.'
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