Ben Ferencz, the last living prosecutor from the Nuremberg trials, died on Friday at an assisted living facility in Boynton Beach, Fla. He was 103 years old. His son, Don, confirmed the death. Ferencz convicted Nazi war criminals of organizing the murder of a million people and German industrialists of using slave labor from concentration camps to build Hitler’s war machine.
Who was Ben Ferencz?
Ben Ferencz, full name Benjamin Berell Ferencz, was an American lawyer. He was born on March 11, 1920, in Csolt, Szatmar County, Kingdom of Hungary. He immigrated at a very young age with his parent to New York to escape rampant antisemitism.
Also Read | Who is Donna Adams? Woman goes viral for taking selfie with Josh Allen thinking he’s Chris Pratt lookalike
Ferencz graduated from Harvard Law School. He joined the United States Army to participate in the Normandy invasion during World War II. Due to his legal background, he became an investigator of Nazi war crimes against US soldiers under the new War Crimes Section of the Judge Advocate’s Office.
Also Read | No active shooter, injuries at Great Lakes Crossing Mall, Auburn Hills, Michigan
At the age of 27 years, he served as a prosecutor in 1947 at Nuremberg where Nazi defendants including Hermann Goring faced a slew of trials for crimes against humanity and genocide known as the Holocaust in which six million Jewish and millions of others were systematically killed.
Also Read | John Regan: Age, wife Cathy, family, net worth, career, top collaborations and more
He crusaded for an international criminal court and for laws to end wars of aggression for most of his life. With the establishment of the International Criminal Court in The Hague in 2002, his dream of a tribunal to prosecute war crimes was partly realized.
In 1946, Ferencz married his girlfriend, Gertrude Fried, in New York. They were married for 73 years until she died in 2019. The couple had four children.
Also Read | Why NBA is investigating Dallas Mavericks’ decision-making in game against Chicago Bulls
Ferencz was fluent in French, Spanish, German, Hungarian, and Yiddish. He authored nine books and several articles, and spoke and world peace conferences.
