The last prosecutor at the Nuremberg trials of Nazi war criminals has died. Benjamin Berell Ferencz was 103 years old and died in his sleep on Friday night in a Florida institution, his son Donald Ferencz confirmed, according to MTI.
Benjamin Berell Ferencz – also known as Ben Ferencz – was born to Orthodox Jewish parents in Transylvania (now Romania) on March 11, 1920. He was 10 months old when his family emigrated to the United States to escape growing anti-Semitism. After studying law at Harvard, he volunteered for the army and was present at the liberation of several concentration camps.
Benjamin Berell Ferencz in 1947/48 (Source: Wikipedia)
At the age of 27, Ferencz, with no trial experience, became the chief prosecutor in the 1947 Einsatzgruppen trial, in which 22 former SS commanders were accused of murdering more than a million Jews in occupied Eastern Europe. Following the trial of the main war criminals before the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg, the United States conducted a series of additional Nuremberg trials against war criminals.
The ninth trial before the US military tribunal in Nuremberg concerned members of the Einsatzgruppen (mobile firing squads), whose task was to execute Jews and others behind the Eastern Front. The trial resulted in fourteen death sentences and five life sentences.
After the Nuremberg trials, Ferencz worked for a Jewish charity consortium that helped Holocaust survivors recover property, homes, businesses, artwork, and Jewish religious artifacts stolen by the Nazis.
For the rest of his life, Ferencz called for the creation of an international tribunal that could prosecute war crimes against the leaders of any government. His dream was realized in 2002 with the establishment of the International Criminal Court based in The Hague, MTI added.
Featured photo via Wikipedia