Last Surviving Nuremberg Prosecutor Donates $10M to Holocaust Museum

Benjamin Ferencz

By Josefin Dolsten September 1, 2016

(JTA “”)) — The last surviving prosecutor from the Nuremberg war crimes trials has donated $1 million to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, in Washington D.C.

Benjamin Ferencz will donate the sum on an annual renewable basis, up to $10 million, to the museum’s Simon-Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide, according to a statement by the museum.

“I have witnessed holocausts and I cannot stop trying to deter future genocides,” Ferencz said. “You cannot kill an entrenched ideology with a gun. Compassion, tolerance and compromise must be taught at all levels.”

Ferencz, 96, served as chief prosecutor for the U.S.-conducted Einsatzgruppen trial of former Nazi leaders in 1947-1948. In what was his first criminal trial ever, he successfully prosecuted 22 SS death squad members for their involvement in murdering over one million Jews and other minorities.

After the trial, Ferencz worked to secure restitution for thousands of Holocaust survivors.

Ferencz is a long-time supporter of the museum, which in 2015 bestowed him with its highest honor, the Elie Wiesel Award. The new donation is being given as part of his initiative, the Planethood Foundation, which promotes international law as an alternative to war.

Ferencz was born in Romania, but moved to the U.S. as a baby with his family to avoid anti-Semitic persecution.

Josefin Dolsten is a New York-based writer who has reported for the Forward, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, The Times of Israel and other Jewish publications. She currently works as an account director at Fenton Communications, supporting organizations that work to advance racial justice, LGBTQ+ equality, reproductive rights and more. Dolsten earned her B.A. in government from Cornell University and her M.A. in comparative religion and Jewish studies from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO