Forgotten

During our year commemorating the 75th anniversary of the European Convention on Human Rights we have been remembering its birth from the ashes of a decimated Europe and celebrating its protections. We have told this story onstage through the eyes of David Maxwell Fyfe, a Nuremberg prosecutor who became one of two artisans of the ECHR with Sue Casson’s song cycle Dreams of Peace & Freedom. As the year of performances draws to a close in this final blog Tom Blackmore reflects on the importance of reawakening these memories, so that we can understand, and ultimately, renew.

On 21st December 1947 David Maxwell Fyfe was the guest of the Union Belge Britannique in Brussels where he was invited to reflect on the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials and its legacy. He first described the background, rationale and process of the trials and he saw that as part of the restoration of natural justice.

In the world of the atomic bomb mankind is at the crossroads that leads either to sanity or destruction. In one sense Nuremberg did express a triumph of the human spirit – to the extent that it stated what humanity could not tolerate and more gropingly some things for which humanity stands.

He evoked the mountain of evidence created by the Nazis which stood and stands for all time as proof of Nazi crimes.

He went on express a vision about the future:

It is not fantastic to believe that 1948, the anniversary of the European year of revolution, may prove another turning point in history, when a whole continent is given the opportunity of resolving its conflicts and moving forward to new opportunities of prosperity and freedom.

But he could see serious obstacles

Yet I am haunted by some words from a song to which we used to listen in more carefree days : ‘On fait des serments, et simplement, on les oublie’ Having propounded high ideals in defeated Germany I feel the responsibility for doing my part to see that they are not forgotten by the victors.

This was two and a half years after the end of war. Sylvia, his wife, had seen the memory slipping returning after visiting the trials:

It seems most necessary to get some anti-Nazi propaganda about. Everyone seems to have forgotten and to have come fresh from its surroundings as I have done, I cannot believe people can forget so fast. We must never look the other way again.

We are now eighty years from the trials, and there are very clear signs that the lessons learnt have been forgotten. As more of those who made wartime sacrifices die, we lose sharing their lived experiences.

So how do we reawaken our memories?

We remember by repeating and passing on wisdom and stories, in our own way, so they are shared. In Brussels David repeated the closing lines of his speech in Nuremberg. He did this in a number of the speeches he gave, to remind his audience of this his first statement of his faith in universal and inalienable rights and freedoms:

It might be presumptuous of lawyers who did not claim to be more than the cement of society to speculate or even dream of what we wish to see in place of the Nazi spirit, but I give you the faith of a lawyer some things are surely universal: tolerance, decency, kindliness. When such qualities have been given the chance to flourish in the ground that you have cleared, a great step will have been taken.  It will be a step towards the universal recognition that: ‘sights and sounds, dreams happy as her day, And laughter learnt of friends, and gentleness, In hearts at peace.’ Are not the prerogative of any one country.  They are the inalienable heritage of mankind. 

We tell the story of David’s journey from Nuremberg to Strasbourg in song cycle Dreams of Peace & Freedom to reawaken the memory. To do this, being human, we don’t simply repeat - we select, create and interpret. This summer we have shared our telling with audiences at the Edinburgh Fringe.

Charlie McMillan, the director of Human Rights Consortium Scotland wrote about Dreams of Peace & Freedom :

The show is a deeply moving song cycle written by Sue Casson and beautifully performed by Sue and David's great-grandchildren Lily and Robert Blackmore. It is both a tribute to the best of humanity, a remembrance of the worst of humanity and a celebration of David's unwavering vision and commitment to human rights, democracy and the rule of law.

Audience member Tessa reviewed the show on EdFringe:

I learnt a lot which I will not forget.

Where Kirsten’s review admitted:

This is such an important story - one that realise I knew only fragments of.

 And Angela O’Hagan, the Chair of the Scottish Human Rights Commission uploaded a blog:

Maxwell Fyfe’s reflections remind us that social realities change, but what must remain constant is the right to dignity and respect for all. It seems that Maxwell Fyfe’s reminder is necessary as we have seen non-peaceful attacks on migrants and other racialised groups increasing, as evidenced in the last few days across Scotland, and the rights to peace and freedom of many other people are increasingly marginalised.

Maxwell Fyfe said in 1957:

For better or worse, we as a people have a present sense of history. I believe it is of the utmost value because you cannot understand the present except in the light of the past.

We must remember so that we can understand, and we must understand so that we can renew.

1948 saw the Congress of Europe in the Hague which paved the way for Council of Europe and its Parliamentary Assembly which first sat in 1949. Maxwell Fyfe worked as one the two artisans of the Convention on Human Rights in Europe (ECHR). In it he realised ‘the inalienable heritage of mankind’ in treaty form. And it was signed on November 4th 1950, Seventy-five years on we have forgotten why we have the ECHR.

We have it because people forget that everyone is enshrined with the rights to life, liberty, security, property, marriage, privacy, a family life, education and if needed a fair trial with effective remedy. All, as members of humanity, must be free from torture, slavery, forced labour, discrimination and punishment without law, must enjoy freedom of thought, conscience, religion, expression, assembly and association.

They have forgotten that universal means everyone, and that inalienable means power can abuse but it cannot remove the dignity of humanity.

We must remember to understand that this is not an ‘outdated international treaty’ but an expression, born of war and sacrifice, of what it means to be human. And this is a good thing. The ECHR is a good thing.

Just as in 1947 humanity stands at crossroads between sanity and destruction. In the case of the ECHR the crossroads point in one direction towards reawakening and in the other withdrawal. Those supporting withdrawal are providing a single argument, the management of unauthorised migration to justify their claims. It has been recently repeatedly proven that the ECHR is not the primary obstacle to the effective management of migration.

Behind that single argument is the desire to discredit the idea of the ECHR, and any supranational protection of human rights. Those who want to withdraw seek to control the rights and freedoms of all those on British soil.

In doing so they have forgotten the lessons of war, that wide ranging protections of universal rights and fundamental freedoms curb the executive in each country from degrading these shared foundations. The instant modern world, which is constantly on the move need those regional checks and balances more than ever.

Those following the sign to reawakening seek a renewal of the UK’s commitment to human rights. This may well include a reform of the Convention. There is nothing sacred about the words of the convention. They are a simple list. As Maxwell Fyfe, who drafted it, wrote about human rights:

The difficulty of course is, that, as human lawgivers are not the creators but only the codifiers of fundamental rights, opinions differ widely as to their precise definitions.

The Convention should constantly be scrutinised against a changing world. But to withdraw from it means the destruction of one the pillars of society which has supported our capacity to progress.

Discover Autumn of Remembrance performances at our Linktree.

Watch performance clips in our Forgotten video