BENJAMIN FERENCZ: MAN TO REMEMBER  

‘The case we present is a plea of humanity to law’. This is the opening remark of the Einsatzgruppen trial (9th of the 12 Nuremberg trial) and 60 years later the closing prosecution speech of the Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga Dyilo(the first ever trial heard before the International Criminal Court); both by the same prosecutor Benjamin Ferencz. 

On April 7th 2023) Benjamin Ferencz, the last surviving prosecutor of the Nuremberg trials (1946) passed away. Called as the greatest trial in the world history and a watershed for modern law, the verdict called the atrocities committed by the accused as the most barbarous and inhuman ‘crimes against humanity’. The recognition of human rights in the trial further led to the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. While the trial itself is controversial at many fronts, today’s attempt is to pay homage to Ferencz who took upon himself to advocate for human rights.

Nuremberg trial was the first time Ferencz ever pleaded before the court. The 27 year old without calling into a single witness and using only the defendants reports, proved the accused guilty. Ferencz continued to advocate against war crimes even after the trial and contributed to the establishment of the International Criminal Court (ICC). Even after witnessing the demonic side of humans during the World War II, he addresses the banality of evil and humanises with the accused calling them patriots who have forgotten the difference between right and wrong, rather than savage or monstrous which the media claimed they were. His active presence in global politics even at the age of 102 calling out America as an outlier of democracy for not becoming a member of ICC or Putin for the recent Russia-Ukraine war is a reminder for the younger generation from being atomistic.

As we live in the midst of wars and civil unrests globally and nationally, it is important to not forget the very essence of being human and work towards a better world; taking lessons from his life and his words ‘it takes courage to not get discouraged’.


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