Not insignificant for the story is the fact that this was a historical development in the international criminal justice given that it is the first time since Nuremberg’s Nazi trials that an international tribunal has been enabled to prosecute the crime of aggression.Ferencz started his legal career in 1947 in Nuremberg and at age 27 he became the youngest US prosecutor to prosecute the Nazi crimes. This extraordinary beginning of his professional life will mark Ferencz. The evidence he encountered in his work made him feel that he had peeked through the door of Inferno. After the war, he moved to New York where he practiced law in a private firm until 1975 when he finished the book Defining International Aggression-The Search for World Peace. More books followed and his ideas led to the activism of which the creation of the ICC and inclusion of the crime of aggression in the ICC statute are –are his most extraordinary achievements. Benjamin Ferencz showed us that the law can change the way how people think and behave.
We are lucky to have his support from the early days of the existence of the GNF. Ben’s inspiring video talks for the Master Class students have been an encouragement for all of us how a single individual can make a huge difference. His most important lessons “Never Give Up” and “Law Not War” is inspiration and responsibility to continue to build the global justice system.