Origins & Early Life

Benjamin Berell Ferencz (March 11, 1920 – April 7, 2023) was an American lawyer. 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 US authorities at Nuremberg, Germany. When the Einsatzgruppen reports were discovered, Ferencz pushed for a trial based on their evidence. When confronted with a lack of staff and resources, he personally volunteered to serve as the prosecutor.

Pivotal Works & Achievements

Later he became an advocate of international rule of law and for the establishment of an International Criminal Court. From 1985 to 1996, he was an adjunct professor of international law at Pace University. Ferencz was born on March 11, 1920, in Nagysomkút in the historical Transylvania region, into a Jewish family. A few months later the Treaty of Trianon allocated greater Transylvania, including Nagysomkút, to Romania from the Kingdom of Hungary. The new name of the town was Șomcuta Mare.

Enduring Legacy & Impact

When Ferencz was ten months old, his family emigrated to the United States to avoid the persecution of Hungarian Jews by the Kingdom of Romania after Romania...

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