“5 February 1946
Secret
To Comrade Gorshenin,
Procurator General,
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
The US government has requested the approval of the Soviet government to reward the following representatives of the Soviet prosecution team in the International Military Tribunal “for their work in prosecuting the main war criminals of the Axis Powers”.
Lieutenant General R.A. Rudenko – officer's degree of the order
Major General G.N. Alexandrov - officer's degree of the order
Colonel Y.V. Pokrovsky - Legionnaire's Degree of the order
Colonel S. Y. Rosenblith - Legionnaire's Degree of the order
Lieutenant Colonel Z.A. Ozol - Legionnaire's Degree of the order
I ask you to convey the opinion of the Office of Public Procurator of the USSR on the issue of awarding American decorations to the persons listed above, as well as your opinion on the advisability of awarding Soviet decorations to the American prosecutor, the judge, and other American representatives at the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg.
K. Mikhailov,
Acting Head of the US Department"
“The Legion of Merit” is a US military award for outstanding service and achievement in an emergency situation. It can be awarded to both American military personnel and military personnel of friendly states. There are four grades of the order for awarding foreigners (in ascending order): legionnaire, officer, commander, and chief commander. Only US military personnel can be awarded a Legionnaire Degree.
In response to the proposal by the US government, the People's Commissariat of Foreign Affairs of the USSR prepared a project to award American prosecutors Robert Jackson, Thomas Dodd, John Harlan Amen, and Robert Storey with Soviet orders. However, both projects remained unfulfilled.
Similar proposals to give Soviet prosecutors their state honours subsequently came from France, Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Great Britain. They were left unanswered.
* The text is submitted in the original version, without corrections. The text is correct: U.V. Pokrovsky
Source:
“The USSR and the Nuremberg Trial: Unknown and Little Known. Pages from a Collection of Historical Documents”, by Natalia S. Lebedeva
