Never give up!
On April 7 this year the world lost one of its most significant quiet achievers. Ben Ferencz was the chief US prosecutor at the 1945 Nuremberg trials, resulting in the conviction of all 22 Nazi Einsztzgruppen members indicted.
Ben Ferencz
That he went on to be the driving force behind the establishment of the International Criminal Court (ICC) is not sufficiently acknowledged. German director, screenwriter and producer of documentaries, Ullabritt Horn, made a documentary of his life in 2015, originally titled “A Man Can Make a Difference”, now retitled “Law Not War” and available on screening sites. The film won Best Documentary at the 2015 Biberach Film Festival and the 2016 Cinema for Peace Award nomination. I saw it at the 2016 Jewish International Film Festival (JIFF) and was so impressed and affected that I immediately wrote to Ben Ferencz the following letter:
Sunday, May 1, 2016
My wife and I have this minute arrived home, having driven from the cinema in silence after watching “A man can make a difference”. We agree that it was among our most powerful experiences, which prompted me to write to you immediately, while the impact is fresh.
Firstly, thank you for your work on behalf of your country, your people and future generations, and for allowing us the insight into your being, your feelings and your background. We were both impressed by your repeated invocation “If the door is locked, get in through the window”.
Alan and Anne Slade
Your sixty-year battle to establish an International Criminal Court is inspiring. I was unaware of your contribution and will ensure that everyone I know will be informed and encouraged to see the film. Your impassioned plea for “law, not war” is one with which all civilised people concur.
Some questions:
- How can any court operate in the absence of an effective police force? Every case prosecuted in the ICC (or, for that matter, in the Nuremberg Trials) was as a result of the victors bringing the vanquished before the court. In the event, all too common at present, of ongoing criminal human rights violations by ruling regimes (Libya, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Somalia, Egypt, China and too many others), how can the ICC act to end the criminality?
- How can the court bring about an end to state-sponsored terrorism?
- As a Jew and a supporter of the state of Israel (if not always the government of her), how can Israel stop Hezbollah, Hamas and other terrorist organisations’ attacks without responding using force?
- When terrorist organisations launch drone / rocket attacks from hospitals and schools, how should the targets respond?
- When terrorist organisations use schools, hospitals as depots or bunkers for their operations, how should the proposed targets prevent their progress?
- What is a “proportionate response”?
- How should a state treat a suspected terrorist attack, in the absence of other than circumstantial conditions/evidence? I am well aware of Voltaire’s “ ‘tis much more prudence to acquit two persons, though actually guilty, than to pass sentence of condemnation on one that is innocent and virtuous”; as well as William Blackstone’s “it is better that ten guilty persons escape, than one innocent suffer” as well as Benjamin Franklin’s leaf-frog “better one hundred guilty persons should escape than that one innocent person should suffer”. These invocations are indeed noble, unless you or members of your family become victims of the guilty persons’ subsequent activities. They are obviously endorsed if you or members of your family are among the innocents.
I look forward to your response.
Thank you again and best wishes from Sydney, Australia
Alan Slade
I was surprised to receive a prompt response, four days later:
Alan: please see the response below from Ben, which I am forwarding. –
Dan Skinner (Ben’s assistant)
Dear Alan:
Thank you for your very thoughtful letter. The problems you mention are real and cannot find any early or easy solutions. But significant progress is being made in moving toward a more humane world. Please see my web for details.
My summary slogan “Law not War” points the way. How to get there? Never give up! Never give up!
Thanks for your kind observations about the film. It encourages me in my 97th year to just keep going.
With all good wishes,
Ben
His biography is inspiring and his memory is certainly a blessing.
