The defeated German government officially concurred with the initiative on grounds that: A complete truthful account of the world conditions and of the negotiations among the powers in July 1914 and of the steps taken at that time by the several governments could and would go far toward demolishing the walls of hatred and misconstruction erected by the long war to separate the peoples.
[1] In addition, the German government proposed the establishment of a neutral committee of experts to study the matter.
[2] The commission was established at the conference plenary session of 25 January 1919, and consisted of representatives of the five major Allied powers – the US, the British Empire, France, Italy, and Japan – with the addition of Belgium, Greece, Poland, Romania and Serbia (later: Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes).
[6] It recommended the establishment of an additional commission for a more exhaustive study of the alleged crimes of the defeated powers.
They also suggested that defeated leaders or commanders should not be charged with acts not considered criminal at the time of their commission, i.e. that rules of conduct should not be imposed retroactively.