Benjamin Ferencz: When I was taken to school at the age of seven, I couldn't speak English-- spoke Yiddish at home. He couldn't read it, either. Ben Ferencz in court: The charges we have brought accuse the defendants of having committed crimes against humanity. Benjamin Ferencz: I was so young. Presented by The International Humanitarian Law Clinic of Emory University School of LawJanuary 25, 2015 After serving in World War II and helping to liberate the concentration camps himself, Harvard lawyer Benjamin Ferencz: And I'm still in there fighting. The Nuremberg trials after World War II were historic — the first international war crimes tribunals ever held. July 2004. Only one piece of film is known to exist of the Einsatzgruppen at work. I got on the next plane, flew from Berlin down to Nuremberg, and I said to Taylor, "General, we've gotta put on a new trial.". So you see these human stories which are not -- they're not real. Screened at the Law Dialogs welcome dinner held at the Jackson Center on Sunday, August 30th, Ferencz welcomed guests and shared a special message on international law, the legacy of the Nuremberg Trials and the common goal of … After the Nuremberg trials ended, Ferencz fought for compensation for victims and survivors of the Holocaust, the return of stolen assets, and other forms of restitution for … I don't—. It took the US 40 years and a pleading Senator who wouldn’t go away before they finally said: “okay, okay, so genocide is a crime”. Jackson's opening statement is published in The Trial of the Major War Criminals Before the International Military Tribunal Volume 2, p.98-155 (Nuremberg: IMT, 1947) (the Blue Set) and in his own book The Nuremberg Case (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. 1947; republished New York: Cooper Square Publishers, Inc., 1971) Jackson Center Homepage And that's how 27-year-old Ben Ferencz became the chief prosecutor of 22 Einsatzgruppen commanders at trial number 9 at Nuremberg. If they tell me they want war instead of peace, I don't say they're naive, I say they're stupid. Not guilty. Look at the emancipation of woman in my lifetime. Ferencz came home, married his childhood sweetheart and vowed never to set foot in Germany again. He grew up in a tough New York City neighborhood where his father found work as a janitor. > Benjamin Ferencz, Chief Prosecutor. Benjamin Ferencz: Never in my life. Benjamin Ferencz: I don't think I'm an idealist. You know? He recalls the trial on the 70th anniversary. You know? Perhaps the most interesting of the Nuremberg Trials with the farthest-reaching effects on international criminal law was … 1. All wars, and all decent people. Toward the end of the war, because of his legal training, he was transferred to a brand new unit in General Patton's Third Army, created to investigate war crimes. Some people say I'm crazy. Commencing the 2015 International Humanitarian Law Dialogs, Benjamin Ferencz provided a welcome address to the prosecutors and attendees. The defendants were 24 men from the “SS Einsatzgruppen,” representing a total of … People get discouraged. Lesley Stahl: And you had his name down on a piece of—. Benjamin Ferencz: They were 3,000 SS officers trained for the purpose, and directed to kill without pity or remorse, every single Jewish man, woman, and child they could lay their hands on. Benjamin Ferencz: He gave me a bunch of binders, four binders. I'm a realist. > War makes murderers out of otherwise decent people. Lesley Stahl: You know, you-- have seen the ugliest side of humanity. Lesley Stahl: You've really seen evil. Ben Ferencz entered into evidence the defendants' own reports of what they'd done. The Nuremberg trials after World War II were historic -- the first international war crimes tribunals ever held. Talking with Ferencz about his transformation from prosecutor to modern activist for world peace and Zelda Fuksman on surviving the Holocaust and her … They would never have been brought to justice were it not for Ben Ferencz. Benjamin Ferencz: He's not a savage. Shoot 'em there. He defines genocide at minute 2:13. Ferencz told us he is still haunted by the things he saw. The Nuremberg Precedent and the Prosecution of State-Sponsored Mass Murder. But, in the absence of a definition of the crime, the Court’s exercise of jurisdiction was put on hold. The devastation of World War II in Europe ended 75 years ago. Ferencz comes to Duke for a dialogue with his son, renowned international lawyer, Don Ferencz, and Dean of Case Western School of Law, Michael Scharf.Benjamin Berell Ferencz was an investigator of Nazi war crimes after World War What does it say?" “Death was their tool and life their toy,” Ferencz told the judge during the opening statement of United States of America v. Otto Ohlendorf et. Benjamin Ferencz: --recall if I'd ever been in a courtroom actually. The privilege of opening the first trial in history for crimes against the peace of the world imposes a grave responsibility. Ben Ferencz recalls all of the subsequent trials at Nuremberg at a reunion of Nuremberg Trials participants held in Washington D.C. on March 22-23, 1996. And the father had routinely saved a piece of his bread for his son, and he kept it under his arm at… He kept it under his arm at night so the other inmates wouldn't steal it, you know. 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