A living legend addresses the youth: “Law Without War”
Ben Ferencz, 101 years old, is a former Prosecutor at the Nuremberg Trials — the last surviving prosecutor of the biggest murder trial in history.
He was the Chief Prosecutor for the U.S. in The Einsatzgruppen Case. Twenty-two defendants were charged with murdering over a million people. All of the defendants were convicted.
Few years ago, Ben Ferencz was invited to speak at Duke University. Professor Michael Scharf moderated.
The audience included young law students.
In the last part of his speech, Ferencz sent a powerful message to the youth. You can read it below.
Ben Ferencz:
[…]
I’m talking to the young people. [To] [t]he old people in the front row here: you’ve done your share to support what I’m doing. But the young people… [The youth:] [t]hey’re [the ones] on the firing line […].
[For] at least 10 years ago the United States [have had] the capacity, from cyberspace, of cutting off the electrical grid on planet Earth. In other words, somebody’s gonna push a button and the whole planet has no light, no nothing. How long would it take, I asked the general who told me [about this]; how long would it take for everybody to die? He said: “Well, we haven’t yet done any studies on that but I would guess that would depend upon the amount of water they had. If they had water they might live for a week. If they didn’t they’d probably die sooner than that.”
You’re the target for the next one. The nuclear arsenal? That’s obsolete already. The talk about “I gotta get rid of nuclear” [can] give you a Nobel Prize… Sure you should get rid of nuclear. You can’t possibly use it because it’ll poison everybody […].
[You] are in a stage where you are subject to face annihilation. They can’t annihilate me. I’m immortal, you can see that. [The audience laughs.] Well, almost. [More laughs.]
So, what can you do about it? […] I’m speaking now to the young people, to the students: form student bodies to protect yourselves.
I know people are guided by slogans, so I invented a slogan: “Law Without War”. I know that even a bad legal decision is better than any war, because war is indescribably horrible, and will continue to be horrible for the remainder of your days — if there are a remainder of your days…
So, it is a critical point in history where politicians have not yet recognized that the world has changed. You’re lawyers. Lawyers have to reflect the needs of the societies in which they operate. And the first requirement of Law is to let everybody live in peace and harmony. That is what Law is about! And it is being ignored.
Not only ignored, but… I’m just thinking of the actions which are being taken in defiance of that common sense. […] It is not common sense to […] [send] young people out to kill other young people they don’t even know for reasons that are not clear — like when [young people] were lied to about the Vietnam War […]. I consider myself a very patriotic American. I appreciate everything; the opportunity that was given to me as a poor immigrant boy. [It is] for that reason […] that I give them everything before I go.
How are you going to respond to that? You’re gonna accept it lying down? You’re gonna wait and go to the politicians, and you’re gonna go to the diplomats? They don’t hear what you’re saying! They’re more interested in preserving their personal power than your lives.
I don’t like that idea. I think it’s contemptible and I don’t think we should accept it. I don’t think you should accept it. I’m not accepting it either.
When the United States says we cannot define a crime of aggression for 70 years, they bring in hundreds of diplomats who take and argue and debate it, and I’m sitting there listening to all that crap — excuse me [the] language, [but] it’s permissible –; so, they’re sitting there and arguing and quibbling about the definition of the term of aggression… I say: Forget about the term. Call it a crime against humanity. Call it genocide. That’s what it is. Every war is genocide.
You are in a stage where you are subject to face annihilation. What can you do about it? I’m speaking now to the young people, to the students: form student bodies to protect yourselves.
I know people are guided by slogans, so I invented a slogan: ‘Law Without War’. Even a bad legal decision is better than any war.
War is indescribably horrible, and will continue to be for the remainder of your days — if there are a remainder of your days…
Nobody declares war anymore. That whole concept is obsolete. I talk about the illegal use of armed force, and what I mean by illegal is: it’s not in self-defense. Self-defense is permissible and has always been permissible.
So, we have to change our whole concept. Get with it, kids. Get with it. The world has changed and the politicians and the diplomats have not yet wanted to recognize that. And, as a result, your lives are in danger.
If I were in your shoes — and you’re about 80 years younger — I wouldn’t take it. And I don’t tell you to take it. You, the things you can do… I know that we can do the impossible. I know you’ll tell me it never happened before. Nothing that’s new ever happened before.
Of course it’s impossible to end all wars, but we can certainly make a big dent into it if we bring the enforcement arm out [and] clarify what is tolerable and what is not. Criminal punishment is a deterrent to crime. Not only punishment for the individual, but to find his bank account and seize his bank account as well.
Those who cause a harm to innocent people should be responsible to pay for the harm or to try to heal the harm. That’s what I tried with the restitution program for which 50 billion dollars had been spent by the time I left Germany. But it’s a drop in the bucket. […]
Let me tell you one story. […] Some time ago, two years ago, I got a call from German Foreign Office. They’d like to give me their highest civilian award […]. It looked like something my grandpa used to wear around his neck. I said “I’ll let you know”.
I met with some of the survivor groups I’ve been in touch with over the years, and I said: “Look, the Germans want to give me this medal. What do you think?” And I got from some [of them] the same thing we had from the Israelis at the beginning: “What? Are you crazy? You gonna let the Germans use you as a pawn to try to whitewash themselves?” They felt I should not accept it, and I understood their concern. That’s why I went to talk to them, because I expected that.
But I explained to them my feeling. My feeling was: one of my greatest regrets during the time I lived in Germany — about 10 years — I never met a German who said “I’m sorry” because they were ashamed or they weren’t sorry… And I said “This is the attempt of the new German generation to say ‘I’m sorry’ and it would be unfair and unjust for me to say ‘No, we’re gonna hold you accountable also for the crimes of your father or your grandfather’.” And I took the medal. […]
[T]hat’s the issue. The world is changing. Pick up those who believe in [the] human approach. Hatred gets you nowhere. Vengeance gets you nowhere, that’s what I saw and described… The killing of SS man — who certainly deserved it –; [it] was Vengeance crying out for in an irrational way.
The impossible can be done. We’ve seen it a million times.
Our great Constitution didn’t give the ladies the right to vote or to own property. Try that on today. It’s in the Constitution, but nobody would dare make such a suggestion.
The Wright brothers said: “You give me a wing, I’ll put it on a bicycle [and] I’m gonna fly.” [And other people] said: “[I]f God wanted man to fly [God] would have given them wings. It’s impossible.”
There are so many things… A man can marry [another] man. A man can become a woman. All of these things which were considered impossible are realities today. What in the world is so difficult about taking Law instead of War?
It’s the common sense of Jackson when he said “This is the common sense to do: use your money to help the people, not to kill the people.”
Yet I can’t persuade them. I do all I can. I write. I talk. I go on television, wherever. There [are] only so many hours in the day. I don’t know what days in vacation means. So, I ask you: in your own behalf, think it over. Are you ready to take it lying down, or you say it’s too difficult? If this little guy from Transylvania could do as much as he did, why can’t you?
Michael Scharf:
You know, we are alive in scary times indeed. We do live in scary times, and Ben Ferencz is a clarion call for a note of sanity. And as he says, especially to the students in the room, the next generation… You know, Ben’s not gonna be around to carry the torch forever. It’s your turn.
