Memorandum from Paul H. Gantt to H. Russell Thayer, June 23, 1948 - page 1

INTER- OFFICE MEMORANDUM 25 June 1948 To j Mr. I. Rue a ell Thayer SuhJeotj Preliminary Brief Agklnst Paul Koerner 1. Ae you will remember, I submitted to you on 28 May 1948 an outline of the assignments with respect to the draft of the preliminary brief against Koerner. I had set 14 June 1948 aa deadline for the turning in of eepte** Ч/1дг|С5 • Except for the part which I had assigned to myself and half * of the part which was assigned to Mr. Esterkin, none of the assignees have turned in any draft as of today. Despite this 1 fact, I believe that we can whip up In a very short time a potent brief If the new arrivals, Mr. Heilbrunn and Mr. Schonfeld will be set to work on this case. I transmit to you copies covering point I, Introduction, and point II, Biography. I believe we could show Koerner1 в top position by including a number of charts in the text 'л/ Wef. 2. With respect to Aggressive War, I understand that the preliminary draft by Mr. Sears Is presently In the type¬ writer! however, I should like to set forth a number of points. The case against Koerner with respect to the Four Year Plan is rather strong but it must be given a very complete coverage. I haven’t seen the so-called Subject Brief on the Four Year Plan yet but I believe we have to give a step by step development of the Four Year Plan and show step by .step Koerner’ s involvement This can be done by using the material in Document Book 118 and 119. 3. With respect to Russia, we have the strongest case here. We have proof of specific knowledge that war was coming against Russia. The documents In this respect are; (1) Exhibit 582, N1-7474, Document Book 119, where In the 11th meeting of the General Council on 24 June 1941 Koerner states that, In view of the preparation for the eventual case Russia, the holding of a meeting of the General Council was postponed. (2) The entry In the Thomas Diary, Exhibit 1049, 2353-PS, Document Book 122, English page 1, where Thomas notes that among others, Koerner was informed by Goering of the operation planned in the East. (5) Lastly, this is corroborated by a written statement made by Koerner wherein he