Ben Ferencz, the father of Chepstow-based Donald Ferencz, died in Florida on Friday evening.He was only 27 when he secured the convictions of 22 Nazi officers over the deaths of a million people, in what was described at the time as “the biggest murder trial in history”.
And he later saw his lifelong quest for the establishment of the International Criminal Court to prosecute war crimes and crimes against humanity achieved in 2002. Together with his Monmouthshire-based son, they set up The Planethood Foundatioalso n in 1996 promoting “Law, not war” through advocating for justice worldwide and supporting law school projects, trainee international lawyers and victims of crime.
“I didn’t ask for the death penalty, I simply asked for a new rule of law that would protect humankind against that type of criminal abuse,” recalled Ben Ferencz in his 90s.
“We hoped that we would lay a foundation stone saying that genocide was a crime; crimes against humanity are punishable. Nobody is immune.”
The US Holocaust Memorial Museum said in a statement on Saturday: “The world has lost an exceptional leader in the quest for justice for victims of genocide and related crimes.
Having gathered evidence documenting the murder of more than a million Jews by the Einsatzgruppen, perpetrators of mass shooting operations, no prosecutor was available, so he stepped in to take the case.
He later fought for compensation for victims and survivors of the Holocaust and the return of stolen assets and devoted his life to the prevention of genocides and crimes against humanity, with his writings becoming the basis for the International Criminal Court.
In December 2022, Congress bestowed its highest honour, the Congressional Gold Medal, on Ben for his life’s work in pursuit of global justice.
Son Donald – a visiting professor at Middlesex University Law School in London and a Research Associate at the Oxford University Faculty of Law’s Centre for Criminology – has followed in his father’s footsteps as an advocate for the rule of global law.