A scrapbook of David Maxwell Fyfe’s journey from Nuremberg to Strasbourg between 1945 & 1950 and the family journey to uncover it
November 2025 marks two significant anniversaries - 80 years since the opening of the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials and 75 since the signing of the European Convention on Human Rights. These events are linked by David, a British prosecutor at Nuremberg who went on to become one of the artisans of the Convention.
To commemorate these anniversaries, members of his family tell his story through a song cycle inspired by his life. This accompanying scrapbook draws on personal papers, letters and photographs that lay undiscovered until twenty five years ago.
These family stories, divided by a generation, are set side by side. An intimate portrait of one of the architects of post-war freedom and liberties sits alongside a tale of its discovery and presentation in words and music in a world where those hard-won freedoms are taken for granted and globally under threat. The places from which David drew his inspiration provide the canvas to both stories.
Love letters exchanged between David and his wife Sylvia in the year he was at Nuremberg, transcripts of the Trials, contemporary press reports, and the family’s blogs and tweets are all organised in one calendar year, so events from different years can juxtapose, chime, jar and illuminate.
And each month of the year will prompt the reader to explore a little deeper and immerse themselves into the subject - listening responding, and, if they choose, singing.
