
What the last Nuremberg prosecutor alive wants the world to know - sharmi
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/what-the-last-nuremberg-prosecutor-alive-wants-the-world-to-know/
======
Entangled
I wish we could start prosecutions like Nuremberg's once we topple the
Venezuelan regime that has brought so much misery to our country. It is
unbelievable how so many corrupt politicians are living large around the world
and no country ever asks them about their billions of dollars in sudden
fortunes, their yachts, ferraris and multiple properties. They have stolen
trillions of dollars in almost two decades, but this is not only about the
money, also the millions of displaced and hundreds of thousands killed at the
hands of paramilitary motorized gangs armed and supported by the dictatorship.

There won't be closure until we hunt them down everywhere they hide, and the
whole world has become much more smaller thanks to the internet.

~~~
lloydjatkinson
I'm not sure how you can equate a corrupt money stealing government with a
genocidal regime in which tens of millions of people were killed, imprisoned,
and made refugees; while also drawing all the super powers into a protracted
and bloody war, arguably we are still feeling the effects of today.

~~~
nugget
Dozens of Venezuelans are murdered every day as a result of the Government's
inability to maintain even the minimal facade of law in order in many parts of
the country. I'm not sure how many people have to die, and how many others
have to live in misery, so clearly caused by corruption, before the world acts
against the leaders responsible. There has to be some standard, but I think
that Venezuela has met it.

~~~
yazan94
Can the civilized world do this in Syria as well? Its appalling that the
slaughter and destruction has gone on this long

------
unityByFreedom
> Lesley Stahl: He's a savage when he does the murder though.

> Benjamin Ferencz: No. He's a patriotic human being acting in the interest of
> his country, in his mind.

This quote stands out, in light of the Portland stabber, who, even when
caught, seemed to stand by his killings in the courtroom [1]

"Patriotic correctness" [2] should never override the constitution or basic
human rights.

[1]
[https://youtu.be/TTZJoCWuhXE?t=1m19s](https://youtu.be/TTZJoCWuhXE?t=1m19s)

[2]
[https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2016/12/07/...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2016/12/07/the-
right-has-its-own-version-of-political-correctness-its-just-as-stifling/)

------
smoyer
Wow ... just wow

I can't possibly add anything to the story, provide additional insight or
historical reference. All I can do is to be profoundly thankful that there are
people like Ben Ferencz in the world and hope that, in my own small way, I'm
leaving the planet a bit better than I found it.

------
euyyn
The article summarizes his life, and how he got to be a prosecutor at
Nuremberg, which is a fascinating read.

The baity title probably refers to this fragment:

Lesley Stahl: Did you meet a lot of people who perpetrated war crimes who
would otherwise in your opinion have been just a normal, upstanding citizen?

Benjamin Ferencz: Of course, is my answer. These men would never have been
murderers had it not been for the war. These were people who could quote
Goethe, who loved Wagner, who were polite--

Lesley Stahl: What turns a man into a savage beast like that?

Benjamin Ferencz: He's not a savage. He's an intelligent, patriotic human
being.

Lesley Stahl: He's a savage when he does the murder though.

Benjamin Ferencz: No. He's a patriotic human being acting in the interest of
his country, in his mind.

Lesley Stahl: You don't think they turn into savages even for the act?

Benjamin Ferencz: Do you think the man who dropped the nuclear bomb on
Hiroshima was a savage? Now I will tell you something very profound, which I
have learned after many years. War makes murderers out of otherwise decent
people. All wars, and all decent people.

So Ferencz has spent the rest of his life trying to deter war and war crimes
by establishing an international court – like Nuremberg. He scored a victory
when the international criminal court in The Hague was created in 1998. He
delivered the closing argument in the court's first case.

------
gallerdude
We're all just people, yeah? Out there, somewhere is a rational reason for why
people do the things they do. I'm not defending these actions, but if we could
truly and completely empathize - we would understand.

~~~
unityByFreedom
Yeah I think we always at least ought to try to understand.

There may be things that are not understandable, but, when we give it our best
shot we can say we tried.

In many cases, I imagine the SS officer may have had a gun pointed to his head
himself. That certainly was the case in Cambodia. If a soldier didn't kill
someone who he was ordered to kill, he would be shot himself.

If we can keep tensions low and communicate better I believe we can at least
forestall further world wars.

~~~
petra
SS officers didn't really have a gun pointed to their heads. They could
refuse.

But it was the combination of the difficulty of saying no to authority and
probably peer pressure , together with the reasonable possibility they'll be
sent to the front lines (not even as a punishment , but because that's what
men did back than).

~~~
Ntrails
Assume strangers.

If it's a choice between him and me, I choose me.

If it's a choice between those ten people and me, I probably choose me.

If it's a choice between a n+1 people and me, I guess I've already done n,
what's another one?

Acknowledging that there is a difference between being sent away to war and
certain death. That there's a difference between 1 more person and a hundred.
I believe that _far more people than we 'd like to admit _would just follow
orders.

~~~
BrandoElFollito
A poet (Polish?) once said that "one million and one is still one million"
(IIRC he was talking about Stalin rulings and the number of victims, and that
a single life does not weight much in such times, but I am not sure)

~~~
BrandoElFollito
It was actually Mrs Wislawa Szymborska, Nobel Prize winner (although a
reluctant one).

The quote was "one thousand and one is still only one thousand" from a poem
about a concentration camp
([https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Szebnie_concentration_camp](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Szebnie_concentration_camp))

