Sixty-three years ago today the British deputy chief prosecutor at the Nuremberg trials woke up knowing he faced the greatest challenge of his professional life. Standing before him in the dock would be one of the most hated men in the world: leading Nazi Reichmarschall Hermann Göring.
Today a series of previously unseen letters between prosecutor David Maxwell Fyfe and his wife, made public for the first time, give a unique insight into arguably the most important trial in the history of international law.
The letters paint a surprisingly playful and candid picture of the trial, with Göring, the man regarded as Hitler's natural successor, referred to as "fat boy" and "slap-happy Herman" while the US prosecutor is disparaged for his "funny peculiar" personality.
The 205 letters between Maxwell Fyfe and his wife Sylvia, which gathered dust in a legal firm's basement for decades, have now been donated to the Churchill Archives Centre at Cambridge University. They offer a snapshot of the daily life at the trial, revealing the tensions between various prosecuting nations, and a grudging respect for some of the men being brought to justice.
As he faced Göring that winter morning, Maxwell Fyfe was under intense pressure to perform. Göring had done well in previous cross-examinations, getting the better of the US chief prosecutor Robert H Jackson. But after tearing the former head of the Luftwaffe apart on the witness stand, Maxwell Fyfe wrote to his wife with a curious mix of modesty and schoolboy humour. "Friday morning, I think that my cross-examination went off all right. Everyone here was very pleased. Jackson had not only made no impression but actually built up the fat boy further. I think I knocked him reasonably off his perch."
But another letter, dated 26 June 1946, reveals the prosecutor had some admiration for the adversary he also referred to as "slap-happy Hermann". He wrote: "He [Göring] said: 'Of course I know Sir David's [Maxwell Fyfe's] technique now, I can see the way he works up to his point. It was very bad luck on me coming first and being cross-examined before I had the chance to observe.' I must say I take my hat off to the old brigand. He keeps his interests up."
The British prosecutor, taken to Nuremberg to act as deputy to Sir Hartley Shawcross, had until the point he faced Göring remained in the shadows of the trial. But the ambitious 46-year-old, who had served as Churchill's solicitor general during the war, was acutely aware that this was the moment to make his mark on history, according to Allen Packwood, director of the Churchill Archive Centre.
"The letters are fascinating because it was a critical moment for both men," he said. "Göring had recovered from the shock of his arrest, he knew he was going to die and this would be his last chance to give a spirited defence of nazism. Maxwell Fyfe had to step up and take Göring on. He did exactly that and it was the making of his career."
Maxwell Fyfe, who was born in relatively humble circumstances and was the son of two teachers in Edinburgh, eventually went on to draft the European Convention on Human Rights.
The letters, found in the vaults of City solicitors Allen & Overy by Maxwell Fyfe's grandson in 1999, also suggest an uneasy alliance between the different prosecuting nations, with little love lost between Maxwell Fyfe and Jackson.
In a letter dated 8 November 1945 he barely disguises his disapproval of Jackson's no-show to the Russians' "revolution party". He wrote: "It is some consolation ... to see the horror which Jackson's conduct caused. He is a funny man if you think that sort of thing is funny - even funny-peculiar. It is, however, quite clear that even the brave new world will not run without good manners."
Tensions between each nation's prosecutors were not helped by the growing spectre of the cold war, said Packwood. "The letters show that it was difficult behind the scenes, with many awkward social moments. The prosecutors were trying to show a united front, but with each coming with a different legal background it was very difficult, yet they were determined to forge a common approach."
The year-long trial was incredibly testing for the prosecutors involved and their families, he added. "They were trapped in this bombed-out city, with corpses lying in the street. It was a grim and claustrophobic experience for the prosecutors and the letters reveal how they were wrestling with these circumstances and the enormity of the horror that they were dealing with."
That horror included seeing footage of the concentration camps at Auschwitz, which affected Maxwell Fyfe deeply. "When one sees children of Mo's age [his seven-year-old daughter] and younger in this horrible place and the clothes of infants who were killed, it is worth a year of our lives to help to register forever and with practical result the reasoned horror of humanity," he wrote.
The letters show a determined man, deeply committed to his wife whom he refers to throughout as his "dearest love", said Tom Blackmore, the prosecutor's grandson. He added that his grandmother had only mentioned the trial once, telling him of the occasion when she had visited her husband and entered the court to watch proceedings. Albert Speer, Hitler's minister of armaments and war production, who was being tried alongside Göring, kept winking at her as she sat in the public gallery.
The letters, now kept alongside some of the most important documents from the second world war, finally place Maxwell Fyfe where he belongs, he said.
"My grandfather's triumph was that he made Göring not only appear guilty, but feel guilty. People wanted those on trial to feel remorse and he achieved that. He may be a footnote in history, but he is a much underrated one."
Extracts
On the social life at Nuremberg
13 January 1946
"It was thought a good thing if the prosecutors - which meant mainly me - threw a party. We did so last night - a band, a singer, a juggler, speeches ... a game of netball between the prosecution and the forces and a sing-song round the piano. There was only beer so no one was over the eight"
On the cross-examination
13 March
"I had my first bit of cross-examination today - Field Marshal Kesselring. Everyone was frightfully nice about it. In my own view - after being unnecessarily het up about it, afraid I should not come off - I did rather knock hell out of a conceited German marshal. I do not suppose it will get much press as the space will be devoted to Göring going into the box"
On Robert H Jackson, chief US prosecutor
13 March
"Jackson is going to start his cross-examination. The oddity about his attempts so far is that they have no form and no follow-up, but a wealth of carefully prepared material. Curiously enough for the effete old country, I get the impression that I have been brought up in a much harder and tougher school"
21 March
"Jackson had not only made no impression but actually built up the fat boy further. I think I knocked him reasonably off his perch"
23 March
"Jackson could do very little with slap-happy Hermann and I had to go in to prevent him being firmly reseated on his pedestal"
On Göring
17 March 1946
"Göring has given his evidence quite well except that he was too long and grotesquely egotistical. 'I and the Fuhrer' sounds a bit silly when the others' main plea - it is no defence - is that they could not argue with Hitler"