Benjamin B. Ferencz

American lawyer and pacifist born in Romania (Great Romania Kingdom)

Benjamin Berell Ferencz (March 11, 1920 – April 7, 2023)[1][2][3] was a Romanian-born American lawyer of Hungarian-Jewish descent.[4] He was an investigator of Nazi war crimes after World War II and the Chief Prosecutor for the United States Army at the Einsatzgruppen Trial, one of the twelve military trials held by the U.S. authorities at Nuremberg, Germany.

Ben Ferencz
Color photograph taken in 2012 of Ben Ferencz standing in the courtroom where the Nuremberg trials took place. He is dressed smartly in a jacket, shirt, tie, glasses, and his hands are clasped in front.
Ferencz standing in the courtroom where the Nuremberg trials were held, 2012
Born
Benjamin Berell Ferencz

(1920-03-11)March 11, 1920
DiedApril 7, 2023(2023-04-07) (aged 103)
NationalityAmerican
EducationCity College of New York (BA)
Harvard University (LLB)
OccupationLawyer
Known forProsecutor at the Nuremberg trials
Spouse
Gertrude Fried
(m. 1946; died 2019)
Children4
Allegiance United States
Service/branchUnited States Army
Years of service1943–45
RankColonel
Battles/warsWorld War II

Later, he became an advocate of the establishment of an international rule of law and of an International Criminal Court. From 1985 to 1996, he was Adjunct Professor of International Law at Pace University.

Ferencz was interviewed by Lesley Stahl of 60 Minutes about his role at the Nuremberg Trials. He was 99-years-old at the time of the television interview.[5]

On March 4, 2022, he gave an interview in which he stated that President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin deserves to be behind bars as a war criminal.[6]

Ferencz died at an assisted living facility in Boynton Beach, Florida, on April 7, 2023, at the age of 103.[7] He was the last surviving prosecutor at the Nuremberg trials.[8][7]

References

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  1. Gale Reference Team: Biography - Ferencz, Benjamin B(erell) (1920-):, Thomson Gale, April 6, 2006.
  2. Logli, Ch.:"Benjamin Ferencz". Archived from the original on 2006-01-13. Retrieved 2006-12-12.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link), Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, 1999? URL last accessed 2006-12-12.
  3. Ferencz, B.: Photos. One of the captions reads "On March 11, 2003, his 83rd birthday, ..." URL last accessed 2006-12-13.
  4. "www.benferencz.org". Archived from the original on 2007-02-02. Retrieved 2017-09-08.
  5. "What the last Nuremberg prosecutor alive wants the world to know". CBS News.
  6. "Last surviving Nuremberg Trials prosecutor says Putin should be 'behind bars'". Daily Mirror. 4 March 2022.
  7. 7.0 7.1 McFadden, Robert D. (April 8, 2023). "Benjamin B. Ferencz, Last Surviving Nuremberg Prosecutor, Dies at 103". The New York Times. Archived from the original on April 8, 2023. Retrieved April 8, 2023.
  8. BBC World Service radio report, aired on October 5, 2021, using recordings of interview from 2017.