A Nuremberg Legacy: the crime of aggression.

• Published date: 22 December 2016
• Author: Ferencz, Benjamin B.
• Date: 22 December 2016

As the sole surviving Nuremberg War Crimes prosecutor, in my 97th year I remain a believer in the rule of law. While there will inevitably be people who believe, as has been believed for centuries, that military power is how a nation measures its worth, many who oppose the strengthening of international criminal law simply lack the imagination necessary for creating a more peaceful world.

I was a combat soldier in World War II and was awarded five battle stars for not being killed in any of the major battles. I have prosecuted mass murderers, understood their mentality, and heard their arguments. These individuals were not wild animals. These were educated patriots for their own country. I have seen that war makes murderers out of people who are otherwise normal human beings. And I have come away with the determination that what has been glorified for centuries as heroic and necessary for the strength, prestige, and power of a nation is really just a horrible thing. It is a point of view which was not invented by this poor immigrant boy from Transylvania; it was espoused by the much admired President Dwight D. Eisenhower in many speeches in which he said very specifically that the world can no longer rely on force but must turn to the rule of law or else it will end all civilization. (1)

In 1945, with the world still reeling from World War II, the trial of the major German war criminals before the International Military Tribunal (IMT) in Nuremberg began. (2) Nuremberg prosecutors, myself included, tried and convicted 161 of the defendants in the IMT and Subsequent Nuremberg Trials for crimes against peace, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression. (3) About a half century later, the...