The landscape of Benjamin Ferencz’s life is dotted with the landmarks of the Second World War. Normandy. The Battle of the Bulge. Hitler’s Lair and Buchenwald. In 1943, as a newly minted graduate of Harvard Law School, Ferencz enlisted in Patton’s army and became one of the soldiers who’d go on to defeat the Germans. Ferencz’s job description eventually went from fighting to ferreting.
Collecting evidence and making records of Nazi war crimes. At times, that meant digging up corpses with his own hands. By 1947, Ferencz was a prosecutor at Nuremberg. He was 27 years old. Today, he says, Nuremberg’s legacy is alive in the fledgling International Criminal Court, and America should pay heed. International justice then…and now.
Guests:
Benjamin Ferencz, U.S. Prosecutor at Nuremberg Trials