St. Louis, Mo., Apr 13, 2023 / 12:30 pm
The last surviving prosecutor of the Nuremberg Trials, Benjamin Ferencz, died last week on Good Friday at the age of 103. Ferencz secured the convictions of 22 Nazis for the murder of 1 million Jews during World War II. He spent the rest of his life advocating for human rights.
At the age of 27, Ferencz was assigned to prosecute the Einsatzgruppen (mobile killing units) trial, in which 22 former commanders were charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity. He relied on the Nazi’s military records to prove that Nazi death squads had targeted and gunned down thousands of Jewish people, along with other “undesirables,” at a time while occupying areas of Eastern Europe.
Ferencz made his final public appearance at an event in late March at the Catholic University of America. During a brief appearance on Zoom, Ferencz spoke about the importance of ensuring human rights for all people, no matter the circumstances.
“We are looking for human rights, meaning all human rights. No one is to be treated as subhuman, or unworthy of being saved,” Ferencz said during the conference.