Results: Prosecuting Evil: The Extraordinary World of Ben Ferencz
Published on 12/01/2018
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Barry Avrich's gripping documentary, Prosecuting Evil: The Extraordinary World of Ben Ferencz, tells the fascinating story of one of the Holocaust's most heroic and unsung heroes. Ben Ferencz, age 99, is the last surviving Nuremberg trial prosecutor and he is on a life-long crusade in the fight for law not war. After the Holocaust camps were liberated, Ferencz became a lead prosecutor at the Nuremberg war crimes trials. He prosecuted 22 Nazis responsible for murdering over a million Jews. He would go on to advocate for restitution for Jewish victims of the holocaust and later the establishment of the International Criminal Court. His fight for justice for victims of atrocity crimes continues today. Prosecuting Evil explores Ferencz's anthem to the world underscored by a simple message: "We must live in a world where the rule of law replaces the rule of force." Have you any interest in seeing this documentary?
Yes
28%
701 votes
No
30%
747 votes
Maybe
29%
709 votes
Don't watch documentaries
13%
311 votes
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The documentary opens this week in theaters, but had a wonderful reception at the Toronto International Film Festival in September. Directed by Canadian Barry Avrich, who also wrote the screenplay, it simply conveys the message Ferencz took away from these years, that "otherwise decent people" can be made murderous by war, fueled his postwar desire to see all nations submit to a single court where difficulties might be resolved and war criminals be punished. Pointedly summing up Ferencz's feelings about this, Avrich offers warnings about how seemingly sane nations, like Germany, can go insane under the right conditions. As Ferencz warns about countries "that prefer force to rule of law," the film offers video clips of two totalitarian strongmen, Kim Jong Un and Vladimir Putin, with a clip of their admirer Donald Trump sandwiched neatly in between. Do you think there are similarities among all these leaders?
Yes
40%
979 votes
No
18%
451 votes
Not sure
42%
1038 votes
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Although just the fact that Ferencz is still alive at 99 is enough, he is also still extremely active in human rights and "sharp as a tack". His son, who followed his father into law, said his father would ask him and his siblings at the dinner table every night, "What have you done for mankind today?" Besides his longevity, how many of these interesting facts did you know about Ferencz?
Born in Romania, educated at Harvard Law School, a New Yorker most of his life, Ferencz raised four children. He has lived long enough to see them all retire.
5%
118 votes
Not only was he only 27 when he was a chief prosecutor at the Nuremberg trial, it was his first case.
6%
149 votes
At the trial, he presented precisely one witness, who certified Nazi documents that recorded the slaughter of Jews, gypsies and other civilians with a banker's efficiency.
5%
115 votes
Ferencz would spend the rest of his life advocating for an International Criminal Court – something that didn't exist until 2002.
4%
104 votes
In April 2017, the municipality of The Hague announced that the city will honor Benjamin Ferencz by naming the footpath next to the Peace Palace after him as "one of the figureheads of international justice": the Benjamin Ferenczpad (Benjamin Ferenczpath).
3%
77 votes
He recently donated millions to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum to promote world peace, with money saved with earnings from his salary and cases unrelated to war victims. And he appears to have saved almost every dollar.
3%
83 votes
None of these
48%
1181 votes
Do not know who he is
43%
1073 votes
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