New book says Hitler was an indicted war criminal at death

UNITED NATIONS – A new book that examines previously restricted files from the United Nations War Crimes Commission cites documents showing that Adolf Hitler had been indicted as a war criminal for actions by the Nazis during World War II before his death — contrary to longstanding assumptions.

The book, "Human Rights After Hitler" by British academic Dan Plesch, says Hitler was put on the commission's first list of war criminals in December 1944, but only after extensive debate and formal charges brought by Czechoslovakia.

The previous month the commission determined that Hitler could be held criminally responsible for the acts of the Nazis in occupied countries. By March 1945 — a month before Hitler's death — "the commission had endorsed at least seven separate indictments against him for war crimes," it said.