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Talk:Helenus Milmo

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Notability or not of Helenus Milmo's role at Nuremberg trials

[edit]

I created the original stub page for this article, and included the following claim in the opening paragraph.

"His career was notable for his role in the prosecution team at the Nuremberg trials"

I have today removed this sentence from the article.

Embarrassingly for me, I failed to include any citation for this claim. My recollection (for what it is worth) is that this came from an article relating to Milmo's role in the subsequent interrogation of Philby. However, I have been unable to find this again in my own library or online, and it is entirely possible that I misread or misunderstood my source.

I was made aware in 2015 that there had been online discussion stating that this claim was untrue and mentioning my username.

However, as the bulletin board involved was apparently linked to Holocaust denialism, I assumed that there was a political agenda to this counterclaim and thought nothing of it, although I did try to make contact through Twitter to Cahal Milmo, the grandson of Helenus Milmo, alerting him to this development, but got no response. [1] However, since 2015, other more reliable sources have questioned whether Milmo had a significant role at Nuremberg. The Library of Congress have now digitised the transcript of the International Military Tribunal. [2]Helenus Milmo is not listed either a prosecutor (page 4 of original) or as part of the secretariat staff of the International Military Tribunal (page 2 of original).

In May 2017, I therefore flagged this as "citation needed". [3] In response a reference was added by User:The_joy_of_all_things in November 2017.[4]

Somewhat belatedly, as I was no longer an active editor due to family commitments, I picked up that this was not a contemporary source. I then reinstated the "citation needed" flag giving more reasons. [5] However, this was also subsequently overturned, when User:GwydionM added two other non-contemporary sources.[6][7]

Family memory, however distinguished the family, is not a sufficient basis for an encyclopedia entry. As both articles were published after my original Wikipedia entry, there is also a danger that this might have influenced the authors. For the avoidance of doubt, I have no reason to disbelieve Cahal Milmo or Chuka Umunna if they say that their grandfather was at Nuremberg. He may have had an important role there as an observer for British Military Intelligence, or seconded to the Attorney General's office team to support Hartley Shawcross. However there is no documentary evidence that he was part of the prosecution team and my original statement cannot be substantiated.

I would welcome any contributions with pre-2009 primary or secondary sources that explained more about Helenus Milmo's actual role in the period. Lang rabbie 09:10, 16 June 2019 (UTC)

References

  1. ^ https://twitter.com/langrabbie/status/658696393016627201
  2. ^ Trial of the Major War Criminals before International Military Tribunal, Volume I (PDF). Nuremberg: International Miltary Tribunal. 1947. Retrieved 16 June 2019.
  3. ^ https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Helenus_Milmo&diff=782277426&oldid=780095619
  4. ^ Mendick, Robert (16 May 2015). "The tragic past haunting Chuka Umunna". The Independent. Retrieved 26 November 2017.
  5. ^ https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Helenus_Milmo&diff=821593872&oldid=821593645
  6. ^ The tragic past haunting Chuka Umunna (his grandson)
  7. ^ How my grandfather duelled with Cambridge spy Kim Philby by Cahal Milmo
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