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Nazi Prosecutor Loved Zinging 'Fat Boy' Goering

Letters offer glimpse into Nuremberg

By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff

Posted Mar 20, 2009 7:23 AM CDT

(Newser) – Newly released letters offer a glimpse behind the scenes of the Nuremberg trials of Nazi leaders, reports the BBC. The letters that British prosecutor David Maxwell-Fyfe sent his wife reveal a playful side—he refers to Reichsmarshall Hermann Goering as "the fat boy" and "slap-happy Hermann"—as well as an uneasy alliance with his American colleague Robert Jackson.

"I think that my cross-examination of Goering went off all right," Maxwell-Fyfe wrote after ripping the Nazi to shreds in  one of the 20th century's most famous cross-examinations. "Everyone here was very pleased. Jackson not only made no impression but actually built up the fat boy further. I think I knocked him reasonably off his perch."

British prosecutor Maxwell Fyfe is seen during the Nuremberg trials of Nazi leaders in 1946.
British prosecutor Maxwell Fyfe is seen during the Nuremberg trials of Nazi leaders in 1946.   (Office of the United States Chief of Counsel)
Nazi leader Hermann Goering, founder of the Gestapo, on trial at Nuremberg, Germany, in 1946. Goering was sentenced to death but committed suicide the night before his hanging.
Nazi leader Hermann Goering, founder of the Gestapo, on trial at Nuremberg, Germany, in 1946. Goering was sentenced to death but committed suicide the night before his hanging.   (Getty Images)
German field marshal and commander in chief of the German air force Hermann Goering addresses a crowd, circa 1943.
German field marshal and commander in chief of the German air force Hermann Goering addresses a crowd, circa 1943.   (Getty Images)
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