Genealogy Blog 

British historians called Tuesday for a public report on the inquiry into 29 forged documents found at the National Archives that falsely accuse Winston Churchill's government of having a secret, cordial relationship with Nazi SS chief Henrich Himmler at the height of World War II.

Eight leading historians signed an open letter urging police to take action against the suspect who faked the documents, which also allege that Churchill ordered the assassination of Himmler to keep the discussions secret.

"That's a blood libel against Churchill and totally untrue," said historian Andrew Roberts, who signed the letter published in the Financial Times.

Mainstream historians reject the assertion about Churchill because there is no evidence to support it, except the faked papers. Himmler was never assassinated; he committed suicide by poisoning himself with cyanide after he was captured by British forces in 1945.

Roberts was joined in the letter by John Keegan, Antony Beevor, Niall Ferguson and other prominent historians, who hoped swift action by authorities would deter anyone else from tainting the trusted archives with more forgeries.

"It's creating false memory syndromes about a very important part of our national story," Roberts said. "If the guy gets away with it, it will be a green light to manufacture evidence. It's been done in a criminal way, and yet the police don't seem very interested in dealing with it."

Prosecutors, who did not release the name of the suspect, said they would not press charges because the person was in poor health.

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