After the war, the army assigned him a job securing evidence of the Nazis' war crimes. As he wooed industrialists to his ambitious scheme of slave labor to the benefit of the Reich, his organizations profits skyrocketed.. Lesley Stahl: They're making them run to their own death? Benjamin Ferencz: No. All 22 defendants were found guilty, and four of them, including Ohlendorf, were hanged. US Holocaust Memorial Museum. Benjamin Ferencz: He was not ashamed of that. Also learn about how he is rich at the age of 49 years old? by Andrew Nagorski 2/13/2017. He told himself: Just get on with the job, Benny. Lawyer And Pacifist You're not getting very far. And you know what keeps me going? And you shouldn't-- you know-- be despairing because it's never happened before. Things got serious for Ferencz in the spring of 1944, whenhis combat unit was sent to the United Kingdomto fight in World War II. One thing that people dont realize is how incredibly dangerous it was for these people, said Greg Schneider, executive vice president of the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, or Claims Conference, an organization created to negotiate the agreements and later handle the dispersal of the money. Later, he became an advocate of international rule of law and for the establishment of an International Criminal Court. Good morning, he hollered. On the 75th anniversary of the beginning of the Nuremberg Trials, Mr. Ferencz reflected on the impact the trial had on him and shared his inspiring story about devoting his life to pursuing peace, demanding justice for victims, and preventing genocide. Nuremberg taught me that creating a world of tolerance and compassion would be a long and arduous task. He stopped checking his emails. You know? Later, he became an advocate for the establishment of an international rule of law and for the establishent of an International Criminal Court. . Mr. Ferencz has published widely on issues pertaining to world peace generally and to international criminal law more specifically. The city had already been divided into separate sectors by the four occupying powers:the US, the UK, the USSR and France. Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center, found itself somewhat flat-footed by the news. And they're chasing them. And you're full of energy and passion. More than 70 years ago, Ben Ferencz became the chief prosecutor of 22 commanders of the Einsatzgruppen Nazi death squads at trial number 9 at Nuremberg. But he is still in good spirits, still has his sense of humor and, when not too tired, is still perfectly cogent and well-reasoning.. 2023 Cable News Network. If everyone thought the way we do it would be a more humane and peaceful world, he wrote, according to a copy of the email shared with NBC News. I said, I have in my hand here the mass murder of a million people. With appreciation to the Planethood Foundation. But, as Ferencz recalls,noone knew what thosewere at the time. 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 12 Subsequent Nuremberg Trials held by the U.S. authorities at Nuremberg, Germany. Despite his critical role for the U.S. forces, Ben Ferencz was actually born in Transylvania. Among the beneficiaries of monies donated by oligarchs, who were later implicated in foreign interference operations and sanctioned, are George Washington University, Cornell and NYU, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Kennedy Center, and the Guggenheim. Nobody goes in or out without my permission. They had four children. Although he witnessed atrocities as a US soldier in the Second World In life, there are those who lead by their example; those whose contagious optimism and sense of purpose bring the seemingly impossible within reach, she said in December 2020 when a bust of Ferencz was unveiled at the court. I am naive? Altman argued that had German industrialists not colluded with Hitler, the Nazis would never have had the resources to kill 6 million Jews, let alone funnel hundreds of thousands of Jewish youth (like herself and my mother) into work camps where they fought for their lives and endured unspeakable brutality. US Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Benjamin Ferencz. Before his health deteriorated, he reflected on his extraordinary life in a 45-minute interview with NBC News. Excerpts from the Opening Statements by Ben Ferencz, Chief Prosecutor of the Einsatzgruppen Case #9 held in Nuremberg. The defendants were the cruel executioners whose terror wrote the blackest page in human history, he said in his opening statement. Ferencz says his goal from the beginning was to affirm the rule of law and deter similar crimes from ever being committed again. The U.S. decided to hold 12 more trials in Nuremberg against Nazi judges, doctors and other top figures. They should remember, from me, it takes courage not to be discouraged. Benjamin Ferencz: We're marching forward. I know I'm right. The Nazis were well known for keeping detailed records. And look at you. General Telford Taylor, in charge of the Nuremberg trials, asked him to direct a team of researchers in Berlin, one of whom found a cache of top-secret documents in the ruins of the German foreign ministry. Part of an artillery battalion, he landed on the beach at Normandy and fought in the Battle of the Bulge. They contributed a combined 3 million reichsmarks (roughly $30 million today) to the Nazi cause. Ferencz was tasked with securing them before they were destroyed. Would love your thoughts, please comment. This March, Ben Ferencz turned 101 and he's still in there fighting. Benjamin Ferencz, who turned 100 in March, remains a fundamentally optimistic person. Ferencz attended the City College of New York, which was free for bright immigrants, earned a scholarship to Harvard Law School and enlisted in the Army after graduation as World War II engulfed Europe. 100 Raoul Wallenberg Place, SW They all have already tags on 'em. Well, see here, this-- they rounded 'em up. Camps like Buchenwald, Mauthausen, and Dachau are vividly imprinted in my minds eye. People get discouraged. Mikhail Fridman, co-founder of Alfa-Group and one of the creators of the Genesis Prize (which Time dubbed the Jewish Nobel Prize), who also funded the memorial at the Holocaust site Babin Yar (which was bombarded by Russian missiles), is throwing his charity rubles around to try to cover up the news that he found himself locked out of the company he founded in London last week. 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At the end of 1945, Mr. Ferencz was honorably discharged from the US Army with the rank of Sergeant of Infantry and returned to New York where he prepared to practice law. The Nuremberg trials after World War II were historic -- the first international war crimes tribunals ever held. Ferencz has donated millions to the U.S. Now, at 102 years old, he was sitting at his desk in Delray Beach, Florida, answering a reporters questions with wit and remarkable recall. He had a specific job to do. Your effort and contribution in providing this feedback is much June 27, 2021 / 6:54 PM Livid, Ferencz dug his hands into his pockets and pulled out the bones of a child that he had picked up while walking the fields behind the concentration camp in Auschwitz. Tells His Amazing Story Of How Became a Prosecutor At The Nuremberg Trials At Only 27 Years Old Thanks to Ferencz'sinvestigations, the prosecutors in the Nuremberg Trials, which opened on November 20, 1945, had sufficient evidence and documentation to prove the Nazis' crimes. During the advance of the UStroops, Ferencz and his unit broke through the Nazis' western line of defense, the Siegfried Line,fought onthe front line of the Battle of the Bulge and crossed the Rhine river over the Remagen bridge in the spring of 1945. Its a well-known playbook, Michel argued, citing a litany of Russian oligarchs who have sought to whitewash their dirty deeds through philanthropy, turning our most vaunted cultural institutions into reputation laundering factories that attract the same sketchy agents who have already poured their ill-gotten funds into American hedge funds, real estate, and shell companies, according to a 2020 report by the Anti-Corruption Data Collective. Lawsuits claim it wrecked their teeth. That is the current system. As detractors criticized the Holocaust museum for its tone-deafness at a time when much of the world cut ties with Russian money, Yad Vashem Chairman Dani Dayan stood by his decision, asserting Abramovich hadnt been sanctionedyet. No, says anti-corruption activist Bill Browder, who created the Magnitsky Act to sanction Russian officials implicated in the death of his tax lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, who died in a Moscow prison in 2009 for fighting oligarch theft and plunder. Benjamin Ferencz: Defendants' face were blank, all the time. As U.S. forces liberated concentration camps, his job was to rush in and gather evidence. Now I will tell you something very profound, which I have learned after many years. Look at the emancipation of woman in my lifetime. Ferencz told us he is still haunted by the things he saw. Their words arent only empty, they are disgraceful. Skeletal figures with hollow eyes pleading for help many too weak or too sick to move. Soon thereafter, the US Government recruited Mr. Ferencz to join the team working on the Nurember tribunals, a novel independent court established to try top-ranking Nazi officials for crimes perpetrated during the Holocaust. There is a documentary on his life called Prosecuting Evil: The Extraordinary World Of Ben Ferencz, and the film and television rights to his life story have been acquired. Disclamer: Ben Ferencz net worth displayed here are calculated based on a combination social factors. That sort of posturing reminds Ferencz of his dealings with Alfred Krupp, who reigned over an empire of slave labor camps while pleading innocent to war crimes. By Laya Anasu April 18, 2013. This footage came to light years later. When he was ten months old his family moved to America. Indelibly seared into my memory are the scenes I witnessed while liberating these centers of death and destruction. Benjamin Ferencz: Do you think the man who dropped the nuclear bomb on Hiroshima was a savage? Benjamin Ferencz: They said, "No, you're too short. Ferencz cut him off midsentence and ended the conversation with three words uttered in German: Goodbye, Mr. Ohlendorf., There was no remorse whatsoever, Ferencz said. Ferencz is 99 years old (100, if you ask him in person), and the only surviving Nuremberg Trial prosecutor. But Telford said it wasnt possible. Benjamin Ferencz, who turned 100 in March, remains a fundamentally optimistic person. On Wednesday he will enter the history books in a new way. Even today, when I close my eyes, I witness a deadly vision I can never forget-the crematoria aglow with the fire of burning flesh, the mounds of emaciated corpses stacked like cordwood waiting to be burned. Prosecutors said that he choose to "look away" instead of leaving his post. Ferencz graduated from Harvard in 1943. Along with his sanctioned cronies Avn and German Kahn (chairman of Russias third-largest oil company, TNK Oil), Fridman announced last week that the three are donating $10 million to Ukraines Jewish community. According to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Ferencz is one of the most iconic voices in the field of international justice. A few months later, Transylvania was ceded to Romania under the Treaty of Trianon (1920), the result of World War I. And that's just the beginning. Ferencz'sexperiences in postwar Germany were formative. In the 2015 documentary A Man Can Make a Difference, by director Ullabritt Horn, Ferencz recallshow Taylor initiallytasked him with going to Berlin and collecting evidence of the monstrous Nazi crimes. Benjamin Ferencz: Of course, is my answer. Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich is seen on the stand during the Barclays Premier League match between Chelsea and Sunderland at Stamford Bridge on December 19, 2015 in London, England. Since the agreement was finalized, roughly $90 billion has been distributed to Holocaust survivors, according to the Claims Conference. But not long after that interview in November, Ferenczs health took a turn for the worse. Ferencz was one of the American service members who went into the camps at the end of the war. His time as a soldier in thearmy began bleakly with a job asa typist in Camp Davisin North Carolina. Even pro-democracy think tanks like the Atlantic Council and the Council of Foreign Relations have taken oligarchs cash. An untried American prosecutor took on Nazi death squadsand in the process found his life's work helping victims of war crimes. Ben Ferencz is the last Nuremberg prosecutor alive and he has a far-reaching message for todays world. 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 After being honorably discharged from the army, Ferencz returned to the US andbeganlooking for a job as a lawyer, but he didn't search for long. Benjamin Ferencz: Well, don't say that. After achieving the convictions at Nuremberg, he continued working toward international law. In 1943, Mr. Ferencz graduated from Harvard Law School and soon thereafter he joined an anti-aircraft artillery battalion. That must end now. The former chief prosecutor of the ICC, Fatou Bensouda, has described Ferencz as a founding father of the court and one of her personal heroes. As an authorized representative of the Jewish Claims Conference, he later worked tirelessly for the reparations agreement between Israel and West Germany, which was signed in Luxembourg in 1952. The Royal Academy of London also tendered the resignation of its trustee, Alfa-Bank head Petr Aven. 2021 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. He witnessedthe first Nuremberg Trial, against the main Nazi war criminals, as a spectator. Created the World's Greatest Money Laundering Scheme in History. Only one piece of film is known to exist of the Einsatzgruppen at work. I had in mind that he had a wife and five children, Ferencz said. But he isn't content just being a part of 20th-century history -- he believes he has something important to offer the world right now. He holds that if you cry inside, it's better to laugh on the outside. I thought of Ferencz and Altmans words as President Joe Biden announced sanctions last week, and the world rallied to enforce them, isolating Putin and Russian businesses to the point where the ruble has lost its value. He went on to play a crucial role in securing compensation for Holocaust survivors and in the creation of the International Criminal Court at The Hague. Benjamin B. Ferencz engaged in both of these critical tasks. Its a form of reparations without any admission of guilt or wrongdoing, and thats something Ferencz, who helped draft the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, establishing every human beings inalienable rights to freedom, dignity and equality, and negotiated the terms of restitution to victims of Nazi slave labor after the Holocaust, would know. He is a treasure of humanity, Schneider said of Ferencz. You can watch it in full here. They ended up being reports from SS special unitsdisguised under the name "Einsatzgruppen," the term used to refer to SS mobile death squads. Benjamin Ferencz: I was so young. Mr. Ferencz served for the United States under Ferencz was an immigrant. Throughout his career, he has made use of every tool in the justice toolbox: collecting evidence and documenting the atrocities of the Holocaust; prosecuting cases against war criminals; representing victims in their restitution claims; developing new norms, laws, and treaties; helping to build the political will for new international courts; and writing, teaching, and inspiring the next generation of justice champions. Benjamin Ferencz: Of course. But Ben always spoke about it as if he had no other choice given what the survivors endured, that it would be unimaginable to him to give up despite whatever dangers he might face.. Ben Ferencz has stayed active in public affairs, criticizing U.S. President Donald Trumps border policies. His job duties also consisted of unceremoniously cleaning toilets and scrubbing pots and floors. Blame the Federal Reserve. These pieces of evidence provided the legal foundation for one of the largest murder trials in history: On September 15, 1947, Ferencz made his opening statement in Room 600 of the Nuremberg courthouse. At the age of 101 years, Ben Ferencz weight not available right now. It was pure luck that he survived the war, he later said. Chief prosecutor Benjamin Ferencz presents documents as evidence at the Einsatzgruppen Trial. While I welcome the news, its too little too late. I was 27 years old. As a former Nuremberg investigator and prosecutor, Mr. Ferencz is one of the most iconic voices in the field of international justice and one of the most effective change-makers for justice. High Commissioner Dialogue with Ben Ferencz. The trial began on Sept. 29, 1947. After securingall possible evidence at one camp, they would drive directly to the next. And I also learned that if we did not devote ourselves to developing effective world law, the same cruel mentality that made the Holocaust possible might one day destroy the entire human race. Ben Ferencz. WebStephen Levitt. At that time, he was not familiar with using a typewriter, and he couldn't fire a weapon. Shoot 'em there. What were his final words to the lead defendant after a judge sentenced the man to death in 1948? Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, two New York Democrats, and Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) He denied everything, but I had files of their corporate records, and everything had to go through him, Ferencz says. 284 pp. Please only use it for a guidance and Ben Ferencz's actual income may vary a lot from the dollar amount shown above. Ben Ferencz in court: The charges we have brought accuse the defendants of having committed crimes against humanity. 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