'No one showed any sign of remorse': The heroic US lawyer who put Nazi death squad members on trial at Nuremberg

On 29 September 1947, the "biggest murder trial in history" began. Seventy years onsiedemdziesiąt lat później, the chief prosecutorprokurator, Ben Ferencz, told the BBC how he fought to bring 22 killers to justicepostawić 22 zabójców przed sądem.

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On 29 September 1947, what was called the “biggest murder trial in history” began. Seventy years later, the main lawyer for the prosecutionoskarżenie, Ben Ferencz, told the BBC how he worked to make 22 killers face justicestanąć przed sądem.

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On 29 September 1947, the trial described as the “biggest murder trial in history” got under wayrozpoczął się. Seven decades later, chief prosecutorprokurator Ben Ferencz recountedopowiedział to the BBC how he had fought to bring 22 killers to justicepostawić 22 zabójców przed wymiarem sprawiedliwości.

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I once wrote that I had looked into hell. But I think hell would be like paradiseraj compared with what I saw.

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I once wrote that I had gazedspojrzałem into hell; yet, compared withw porównaniu z what I witnessedwidziałem, even hell would seem like paradiseraj.

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"I wrote somewhere that I had peeredzajrzałem into hell – I think hell would be paradiseraj compared to what I saw."

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In 2017, Ben Ferencz told the BBC about the terrible things he saw at Buchenwald concentration campobóz koncentracyjny near the end of World War Two. This experience helped lead him to become the youngest US prosecutorprokurator at the war crimes trialsprocesy dotyczące zbrodni wojennych in Nuremberg, when he was 27.

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In 2017, Ben Ferencz described to the BBC the harrowingwstrząsający scenes he had witnessedbył świadkiem at Buchenwald concentration campobóz koncentracyjny towards the end of World War Two. The experience ultimatelyostatecznie led him, at the age of 27, to become the youngest US prosecutorprokurator at the war crimes trialsprocesy dotyczące zbrodni wojennych in Nuremberg.

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In 2017, Ben Ferencz told the BBC about witnessing harrowingwstrząsający scenes at the Buchenwald concentration campobóz koncentracyjny at the end of World War Two – an experience that led to his becomingdoprowadziło do tego, że został, aged 27, the youngest US prosecutorprokurator at the war crimeszbrodnie wojenne trials in Nuremberg.

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Warning: This article describes war crimes. Some people may find it upsettingprzygnębiający.

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Warning: This article contains details of war crimeszbrodnie wojenne that some may find upsettingprzygnębiający.

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Warning: This article contains accountsrelacje of war crimes that some readers may find distressingprzygnębiające.

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Ferencz was a Jewish man from Hungary who lived in New York. He joined the US Army in 1943, just after he finished Harvard Law School. He landed on the beaches in Normandy. Later, he looked intobadał war crimeszbrodnie wojenne. He was one of the first US soldiers to enter the Nazi death campsobozy zagłady after they were freed. In 2017, he told Zeinab Badawi that he did not like to talk about these memories. “I don’t like talking about it much because it is hard to control my feelings.”

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A Hungarian-Jewish New Yorker who signed upwstąpił do for the Army as soon as he graduated from Harvard Law School in 1943, Ferencz landed on the beaches at Normandy. Later, as a war crimeszbrodnie wojenne investigatorśledczy, he was one of the first US troops to enter the newly liberatedwyzwolone Nazi death campsobozy zagłady. He preferred not to discuss those memories, as he told Zeinab Badawi in 2017. "I don't like to talk about it much because I have difficulty controlling my own emotions."

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A Hungarian-Jewish New Yorker, Ferencz enlistedzaciągnął się in the US Army immediately after graduating from Harvard Law School in 1943 and landed at Normandy. He later served as a war crimes investigatorśledczy badający zbrodnie wojenne and was among the first US troops to enter the Nazi death campsobozy zagłady after their liberationwyzwolenie. In a 2017 interview with Zeinab Badawi, he explained that he preferred not to revisitwracać do those memories: “I don’t like to talk about it much because I have difficulty controlling my own emotions.”

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Yet even at the age of 97, he was able to recountopowiedzieć what he'd seen in detailszczegółowo. "I can describe it to you quite vividlywyraziście because the recollectionwspomnienie is very firm in my mind. But at the same time, you'll never understand what it was like because the rationalracjonalny human mind can't quite grasppojąć it." He remembered seeing bodies on the ground as he entered Buchenwald, and prisoners so emaciatedskrajnie wychudzony that they were "skeletons dressed in rags".

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Even at 97, he was still able to give a detailed account of what he had witnessed. “I can describe it to you quite vividlyżywo because the memory remains firmly fixed in my mindmocno utrwalone w mojej pamięci. At the same time, however, you will never understand what it was like, because the rational human mind cannot fully comprehendpojąć it.” He recalledwspominał encountering bodies scattered across the groundrozrzucone po ziemi as he entered Buchenwald, and prisoners so severely emaciatedskrajnie wychudzony that they were, in his words, “skeletons dressed in rags.”

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Even when he was 97, he could still describe in detail what he had seen. “I can describe it clearly because I remember it very well. But you will never know what it was like, because the human mind cannot fully understand it.” He remembered seeing bodies on the ground when he entered Buchenwald. The prisoners were so thin that they looked like “skeletonsszkielety dressed in ragsubrani w łachmany.”

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When Ferencz returned to New York in 1945, the Pentagon, the headquarterssiedziba of the US Department of Defence, asked him to help with the trialsprocesy sądowe in Nuremberg. He said the United States felt that the International Military Tribunaltrybunał for Hermann Göring’s case showed only a small part of the pictureniewielki fragment całości.

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Upon Ferencz’s return to New York in 1945, the Pentagon—the headquarters of the US Department of Defence—asked whether he could assist with the trials under wayw toku in Nuremberg. As he explained, the United States considered the International Military Tribunal’s case against Hermann Göring merelyjedynie a snapshotkrótki obraz of a much broader issue.

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When Ferencz returned to New York in 1945, the Pentagon (the headquarters of the US Department of Defence) asked if he could help with the trials taking place in Nuremberg. "The United States particularly felt that the International Military Tribunaltrybunał against Hermann Göring was just a camera shot of a small samplingpróbka; ograniczony wybór," he said.

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To understand how a modern country like Germany could commit and accept such terrible crimes, we need to look at the different groups involvedzaangażowane. Doctors carried outprzeprowadzili medical experiments. Lawyers and judges twistedwypaczyli the law. The SS carried outprzeprowadzili the killings, and business leadersprzedstawiciele świata biznesu made people work until they died. Each group had its own role.

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To graspzrozumieć how a civilised nation such as Germany could commit and tolerate such atrocitiesokrucieństwa, it is necessary to examine the roles of the distinctodrębnych groups involved: doctors who conducted medical experiments; lawyers and judges who corruptedwypaczali the law; SS members who carried outdokonali the killings; and industrialistsprzemysłowcy who worked people to deathzajeżdżali ludzi pracą na śmierć.

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"And in order to really understand how a civilised country like Germany could commit and tolerate the type of atrocitiesokrucieństwa which were committed, you should understand the position of the doctors who performed medical experiments, the lawyers and judges who pervertedwypaczyli the law, the SS murderers, of course, who did the actual killings, the industrialistsprzemysłowcy who were working people to deathzajeżdżali ludzi na śmierć. All of these were specific groups."

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Ferencz was assigned to "take a sampling fromwybrać próbę z each of these groups" to help explain their actions. He flew to Berlin, where he and a team of about 50 researchers scouredprzeszukali dokładnie the Nazi archivesarchiwa for evidence of the crimes committed by Germans from all walks of lifez różnych środowisk.

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Ferencz had to choose people from each group to help explain what they did. He flew to Berlin with about 50 researchersbadacze. They looked throughprzejrzeli Nazi recordsnazistowskie dokumenty for proofdowody of crimes committedpopełnionych by Germans from many parts of society.

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Ferencz was asked to select people from each group to help explain their actions. He flew to Berlin, where he and a team of about 50 researchers searched the Nazi archivesarchiwa for evidence of crimesdowody zbrodni committed by Germans from all walks of lifez różnych środowisk.

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Then his team made an unexpected discovery. "One of my researchers… came uponnatknął się na the daily reports from these special exterminationeksterminacja squadsoddziały whose job it was to kill, without pity or remorseskrucha, every single Jewish man, woman and child they could lay their hands ondostać w swoje ręce… and any other perceivedpostrzegani jako or suspectedpodejrzewani opponentsprzeciwnicy of the ReichRzesza."

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Phrasal verbs:

came upon - natknął się na