Fyfe, Sir David Maxwell

1900–1967

   Fyfe was one of the most devastating prosecutors at the war crimes trials at Nuremberg. He had been appointed British Solicitor General and began preparing cases against top German officials in 1942. At the end of the war in Europe, Fyfe was appointed Attorney General in the Caretaker Government of May 1945 but after the 1945 general election was retained by ATTLEE as Deputy Chief Prosecutor and was Britain’s chief Prosecutor at Nuremberg. Fyfe cross-examined GOERING and managed to discredit one of his witnesses. In von Papen’s crossexamination Fyfe was able to prove he was a weak supporter of the Nazis, incapable of standing up for himself. Fyfe won a great deal of admiration because of the lucidity and integrity with which he presented his cases: he stuck to the principle that the accused’s guilt had to be proved in court.