A FEW DAYS AFTER the charter was adopted, someone noticed a minor discrepancy in the texts of Article 6(c) on crimes against humanity, the problem of the semicolon. This caused a discrepancy between the Russian version, on the one hand, and the English and French texts, on the other. An amendment was quickly agreed on, to bring the English and French versions into line with the Russian text. This was achieved on October 6, when the semicolon was removed and replaced with a comma.
The consequence could be significant. The semicolon seemed to allow a crime against humanity that occurred before 1939, when the war began, to come within the jurisdiction of the tribunal; the replacement comma, however, seemed to have the effect of taking events that occurred before the war began outside the jurisdiction of the tribunal. There would be no punishment for those actions, if crimes against humanity had to be connected to war. Whether this was intended, or would have this effect, would be for the judges to decide.
A few days after the disappearance of the semicolon, Shawcross complained to Lauterpacht about another development, the terms of the specific charges against the individual defendants. The Four Powers were having “very great difficulty” with the indictment, a document Shawcross didn’t like “at all.” “Some of the allegations in it will, I think, hardly pass the test of history or, indeed, of any serious legal examination.” Shawcross could have been referring to the unexpected introduction of a new word in the indictment, “genocide.” It had been added at a late stage at the insistence of the Americans over strong British objections. Lauterpacht would not have let it in. “We shall just have to make the best of this rather unsatisfactory document,” Shawcross told Lauterpacht.
It was decided that the trial would be held in Nuremberg’s Palace of Justice, to open in November. The Allies identified twenty-four lead defendants, to include Hermann Göring (Hitler’s vice-chancellor), Albert Speer (minister of armaments and war production), and Martin Bormann (personal secretary to the führer). The seventh name would interest Lauterpacht: Hans Frank, governor-general of occupied Poland, whose territory included Lemberg and Żółkiew.
“If you could find it possible to be there for a few days at the commencement,” Shawcross suggested, “it will be of great assistance to us.” There would be no fee paid, but expenses would be covered.
Once again, Lauterpacht accepted the invitation.