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Nuremberg Prosecutor To Speak At Duke Jan. 31

Ben Ferencz talk is free and open to the public

Lawyers in discussion during the Nuremberg trials.
Ben Ferencz sits at a desk with other attorneys during the Nuremberg trials. Photo courtesy USHMM/ Ben Ferencz

DURHAM, N.C. -- Ben Ferencz, the last living prosecutor from the Nuremberg trials, will speak at Duke University Wednesday, Jan. 31.

Ferencz will talk about the trial’s impact on international jurisprudence and contemporary human atrocities. The discussion will also include his son, Don Ferencz, an international human rights lawyer, and Duke alum Michael Scharf, dean of Case Western Law School.

The talk, which is free and open to the public, takes place from 6-7 p.m. in Fleishman Commons at the Sanford School of Public Policy. Parking is available for free in the Sanford School lot.

“The Duke Center for Jewish Studies is honored to host Ben Ferencz. As the last living prosecutor from the Nuremberg Trials, he brings unique depth and nuance to vitally important, ongoing dialogues concerning international justice work and human rights,” said Laura Lieber, a professor of religion and director of both the Duke Center for Jewish Studies and the Center for Late Ancient Studies.

Ferencz was an investigator of Nazi war crimes after World War II and the chief prosecutor for the United States Army at the Einsatzgruppen Trial, one of the 12 military trials held by the U.S. authorities at Nuremberg, Germany. Later, he became an advocate of the establishment of an international rule of law and of an International Criminal Court (ICC).

Donald Ferencz is the founder and convenor of the Global Institute for the Prevention of Aggression and a co-organizer of the worldwide campaign to ratify the 2010 Kampala amendments to the ICC Statute. Ferencz was a contributing author to the 2012 Handbook on the Ratification and Implementation of the Kampala Amendments to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

Scharf is director of the Frederick K. Cox International Law Center and co-founder of the Public International Law & Policy Group, a Nobel Peace Prize-nominated NGO that provides pro bono legal assistance to developing states and states in transition.

For more information, visit this calendar listing.