Nuremberg trials: Benjamin Ferenczs battle for justice | DW Documentary

Benjamin Ferencz, the last surviving chief prosecutor from the Nuremberg Trials, died April 2023, aged 103. In commemoration of his long and eventful life, Deutsche Welle is broadcasting the documentary: “A Man Can Make a Difference”. He came to Germany as a young American soldier and lawyer immediately after the liberation of the concentration camps, to secure documents on the crimes committed there. In doing so, he came upon detailed files of the so-called “Einsatzgruppen“, or “task forces,“ essentially death squads, and thus became chief prosecutor at one of the subsequent Nuremberg trials of 22 SS commanders. A Harvard graduate, he devoted his further life to the idea of an international criminal court, which he had already demanded in Nuremberg. In 2002 the idea finally became reality, with the establishment of the International Criminal Court in the Hague. In this documentary, with precise analysis, Ferencz presents the history of a century that ushered humanity into the greatest disasters, but also the boldest hopes for a more just world. Director Ullabritt Horn accompanies her energetic and life-loving protagonist to appearances in Washington, New York City, Frankfurt and Nuremberg, and also interviews his colleagues and friends.