Ben Ferencz was the last living prosecutor who convicted Nazis in the Nuremburg trials for their war crimes.
- Died: April 7, 2023 (Who else died on April 7?)
- Details of death: Died at an assisted living facility in Boynton Beach, Florida at the age of 103.
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Ben Ferencz’s legacy
Ben Ferencz was just 27 years old when he was appointed chief prosecutor in the Einsatzgruppen trial, one of the 12 cases that made up the Nuremburg trials. Born in Transylvania, he emigrated to the U.S. with his family as a baby to escape the persecution of Hungarian Jews. He studied law at Harvard Law School and served in the U.S. Army during World War II. His participation on a team under General George S. Patton that collected evidence of war crimes led to his appointment as a Nuremburg prosecutor – as part of that team, Ferencz had visited newly-liberated concentration camps and witnessed the horrors perpetrated there.
Just weeks after his discharge from the Army, Ferencz was tapped to continue his work on a grander scale. The Einsatzgruppen trial to which he was assigned was a massive affair, prosecuting 22 prominent Nazis for the murder of about two million people in the Holocaust. It has been called the biggest murder trial in history. Ferencz and his team successfully convicted all of the defendants of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
After the Nuremburg trials, Ferencz returned to his private law practice, but he rejoined the worldwide stage during the Vietnam War. His goal was to create an International Criminal Court that served the same purpose as the courts convened for the Nuremberg trials: prosecuting war crimes and crimes against humanity. Ferencz published several books on the subject, and when an International Criminal Court was finally established in 2002, he argued for the reluctant U.S. to join it. He continued speaking out about war crimes all his life, most recently advocating for legal action against Vladimir Putin for war crimes in Ukraine.
Ferencz on pursuing justice
“There are three lessons. One, never give up. Two, never give up. And three, never give up. That’s the most important lesson.” —from a 2021 interview for the Article
Tributes to Ben Ferencz
Full obituary: The New York Times
