To mark Holocaust Memorial Day this year, as part of Songs of the People's Winter of Liberation, English Cabaret performed Dreams of Peace & Freedom in Liverpool, at the church of Our Lady and St Nicholas, known locally as Liverpool Parish Church, for its historic role at the heart of the business centre of the city. It was featured in The Liverpool Post.

David Maxwell Fyfe, whose story is told in the song cycle, began his legal career here in the early 1920s, working in chambers just a short walk from the church. He went on to serve as a Liverpool MP for nearly 20 years, in the constituency of West Derby.

Whilst prosecuting at the Nuremberg Trials he was among the first to see film footage of the liberation of Auschwitz Concentration Camp. Its impact on him is recorded in a moving letter to his wife Sylvia, read out during the show. This and his forensic study of war crimes led directly to his later work, drafting the European Convention on Human Rights, which he called a 'simple, safe insurance policy' to prevent such atrocities ever happening again.

English Cabaret first staged this song cycle for HMD in Liverpool in 2016 at Liverpool Museum. This November they are returning to its Global Theatre with a larger scale performance to commemorate the 75th anniversary of ECHR.

Watch a video of our day