美国国家公共电台 NPR The Last Nuremberg Prosecutor Has 3 Words Of Advice: 'Law Not War'

The Last Nuremberg Prosecutor¹ Has 3 Words Of Advice: 'Law Not War'

play pause stop mute unmute max volume 00:0005:04repeat repeat off Update Required To play the media you will need to either update your browser² to a recent version or update your Flash plugin. STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: 

The man we hear next is one of the last living links to an epic³ moment in history. Seventy years ago, the United States and its allies held a series of trials. They tried German leaders held responsible for war crimes during World War II. Today, one prosecutor from those famous Nuremberg trials is still alive. His name is Benjamin Ferencz.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

BENJAMIN FERENCZ: We shall establish, beyond the realm of doubt, facts which before the dark decade of the Third Reich would have seemed incredible.

INSKEEP: Ferencz was just in his 20s when he made that argument. He conducted the last of 13 trials. This one for members of a German execution squad⁴. Ferencz was taking part in a novel process not universally embraced. British leader Winston Churchill wanted top Nazis⁵ to simply be executed. President Franklin D. Roosevelt disagreed, saying Americans would expect proper trials. Ferencz became a prosecutor after serving as a soldier assigned to General Patton's headquarters.

FERENCZ: My final assignment in the Army was to go into the concentration camps as they were being liberated⁶ and collect all the evidence of the crimes for future trials.

INSKEEP: Did you visit some of the most famous concentration camps, like Buchenwald for example?

FERENCZ: (Laughter) I was not a visitor. I came in as a liberator⁷. First camp we hit was a place called Gusen, which was part of the Buchenwald camp. I then went on to Mathausen and Flossenberg and a whole host of camps. It was hell, absolute hell. Dead bodies all around the place piled up like cordwood before the crematoria, old diseases, rats, lice, dysentery.

INSKEEP: What evidence would you go away with from a camp?

FERENCZ: Well, the evidence varied⁸, of course. The most important evidence were the death registries, who was in the camp, how long they were in the camp, the names of the officers, photographs - evidence to prove the crime beyond any possible doubt. And I was able to do that because the crimes were so enormous. And the Germans were so kind just to leave a complete record of all their crimes. And I gathered all of that evidence and rested my case in two days without calling a single witness. I convicted all 22 defendants⁹. I was then 27 years old.

INSKEEP: Would you describe what it was like to be 27 years old and walk into that courtroom in Nuremberg? What did it look like? What did it feel like?

FERENCZ: I know the case I had had historic dimensions and was very careful in the opening statement that I made and also in my selection of the defendants. There were 3,000 men who every day for about two years went out and slaughtered¹⁰ people because they were Jews or Gypsies. And I selected them on the basis of their rank and their education. Many of them had Ph.D.'s. No enlisted¹¹ men in my dock. I picked the leaders who were really top responsibility if we had them in captivity¹².

INSKEEP: What principle were you following in prosecuting¹³ the 22 top guys as best you could determine and leaving almost 3,000 others alone?

FERENCZ: Oh (laughter) the question is sensible. The answer is ridiculous. The question - how, why did we stop at 22? There were only 22 seats in the dock. Three thousand men could have been tried for the same crimes.

INSKEEP: What do you think you proved by putting men on trial in the way that you did?

FERENCZ: What I was trying to prove - and I think I proved it in that case, whether it remained is another question - I was trying to prove that the rule of law should govern human behavior, and nobody should treat human beings that way. These were crimes against humanity because everyone should have been ashamed that such a thing happened. And I am ashamed that we've had genocide in Rwanda and elsewhere since that time. And I was trying to build a rule of law to deter¹⁴ the crimes in future, at least to some extent. And I think I succeeded to some extent in that. We do have another international criminal court after Nuremberg, which now exists in the Hague, the International Criminal Court it's called, ICC.

INSKEEP: Although the International Criminal Court has not been able to replicate¹⁵ something you did in Nuremberg, which was simply put a lot of people on trial and get the cases to a conclusion. There have been very few cases before the International Criminal Court.

FERENCZ: Well, they are putting people on trial. But today, the International Criminal Court has big problems. They can't even get into the country where the crimes are occurring because the head of state himself may be responsible. Or he certainly may be sympathetic to the criminals and therefore he doesn't let them in.

INSKEEP: How has it affected¹⁶ the International Criminal Court that the United States is not a member of it?

FERENCZ: The United States is a great democracy. When World War II was over, Americans were loved everywhere. They kissed me and hugged me, and everybody loved the Americans. Not today, not today because now they say the Americans, look, they don't want to go onto the court. It's not the Americans. It's a small minority group, and you need two-thirds of the Senate to ratify¹⁷ a treaty, which created these courts. You can't get two-thirds because there are always a few guys from the south, entitled to their opinion, entitled to respect, but we don't have to be guided by backward-looking thinking.

INSKEEP: You know, you've hit here on a great paradox¹⁸ because you've made it clear that you think that war is terrible.

FERENCZ: War is hell. It's not terrible. It's awful. And it's - in addition to being cruel and mean and rotten, it's stupid because look at what we do now. We take young people - if the heads of state can't agree, you send young people to kill other young people they don't even know who may never have harmed them or anybody else. And they get tired of killing¹⁹ them, then they stop and each side declares victory, rests for a while and they go back again, and they start killing each other again.

INSKEEP: But this is...

FERENCZ: That's the current system. Don't tell me that that's a rational approach.

INSKEEP: But this is...

FERENCZ: It's absolutely cruel and impossible. You're getting me wind up (laughter) wound up, and I feel very strongly about it.

INSKEEP: That's OK. I - you clearly do. Did I miss anything important you wanted to say or get anything wrong?

FERENCZ: Yes. I want you to say one more thing. I have boiled everything down into a slogan - law, not war - three words. If you could do that, how you would change the world. You'd save billions of dollars every day to be able to take care of the students who can't pay their tuition, take care of the refugees who don't have homes, et cetera. Three words - law, not war. And the next question is, how do you do it? I have also three words - never give up. And that's what I'm doing. And all I can do as an old man and sit here in a little bungalow²⁰ in Florida and urge the world to come to its senses. Good luck world.

INSKEEP: It's been an honor to talk with you. Thank you.

FERENCZ: OK, have fun, live long, be happy.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

INSKEEP: As he seems to have done. Benjamin Ferencz was a prosecutor at one of the Nuremberg trials after World War II.

1 prosecutor   

n.起诉人；检察官，公诉人

参考例句：

• The defender argued down the prosecutor at the court.辩护人在法庭上驳倒了起诉人。
• The prosecutor would tear your testimony to pieces.检查官会把你的证言驳得体无完肤。

2 browser   

n.浏览者

参考例句：

• View edits in a web browser.在浏览器中看编辑的效果。
• I think my browser has a list of shareware links.我想在浏览器中会有一系列的共享软件链接。

3 epic   

n.史诗，叙事诗；adj.史诗般的，壮丽的

参考例句：

• I gave up my epic and wrote this little tale instead.我放弃了写叙事诗，而写了这个小故事。
• They held a banquet of epic proportions.他们举行了盛大的宴会。

4 squad   

n.班，小队，小团体；vt.把…编成班或小组

参考例句：

• The squad leader ordered the men to mark time.班长命令战士们原地踏步。
• A squad is the smallest unit in an army.班是军队的最小构成单位。

5 Nazis   

n.（德国的）纳粹党员( Nazi的名词复数 )；纳粹主义

参考例句：

• The Nazis worked them over with gun butts. 纳粹分子用枪托毒打他们。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Nazis were responsible for the mass murder of Jews during World War Ⅱ. 纳粹必须为第二次世界大战中对犹太人的大屠杀负责。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 liberated   

a.无拘束的，放纵的

参考例句：

• The city was liberated by the advancing army. 军队向前挺进，解放了那座城市。
• The heat brings about a chemical reaction, and oxygen is liberated. 热量引起化学反应，释放出氧气。

7 liberator   

解放者

参考例句：

• The best integrated turf quality was recorded in Ram I、Midnight、America、Connie、Liberator, which could be adopted in Shanxi. RamI、Midnight、America、Connie、Liberator综合质量表现均衡且分值较高，是山西省推广应用的重点品种。
• It is the story of a new world that became a friend and liberator of the old. 这是一部新世界的发展史，是一部后浪推前浪的历史。

8 varied   

adj.多样的，多变化的

参考例句：

• The forms of art are many and varied.艺术的形式是多种多样的。
• The hotel has a varied programme of nightly entertainment.宾馆有各种晚间娱乐活动。

9 defendants   

被告( defendant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The courts heard that the six defendants had been coerced into making a confession. 法官审判时发现6位被告人曾被迫承认罪行。
• As in courts, the defendants are represented by legal counsel. 与法院相同，被告有辩护律师作为代表。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件

10 slaughtered   

v.屠杀，杀戮，屠宰( slaughter的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The invading army slaughtered a lot of people. 侵略军杀了许多人。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Hundreds of innocent civilians were cruelly slaughtered. 数百名无辜平民遭残杀。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 enlisted   

adj.应募入伍的v.（使）入伍， （使）参军( enlist的过去式和过去分词 )；获得（帮助或支持）

参考例句：

• enlisted men and women 男兵和女兵
• He enlisted with the air force to fight against the enemy. 他应募加入空军对敌作战。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

12 captivity   

n.囚禁；被俘；束缚

参考例句：

• A zoo is a place where live animals are kept in captivity for the public to see.动物园是圈养动物以供公众观看的场所。
• He was held in captivity for three years.他被囚禁叁年。

13 prosecuting   

检举、告发某人( prosecute的现在分词 )； 对某人提起公诉； 继续从事（某事物）； 担任控方律师

参考例句：

• The witness was cross-examined by the prosecuting counsel. 证人接受控方律师的盘问。
• Every point made by the prosecuting attorney was telling. 检查官提出的每一点都是有力的。

14 deter   

vt.阻止，使不敢，吓住

参考例句：

• Failure did not deter us from trying it again.失败并没有能阻挡我们再次进行试验。
• Dogs can deter unwelcome intruders.狗能够阻拦不受欢迎的闯入者。

15 replicate   

v.折叠，复制，模写；n.同样的样品；adj.转折的

参考例句：

• The DNA of chromatin must replicate before cell division.染色质DNA在细胞分裂之前必须复制。
• It is also easy to replicate,as the next subsection explains.就像下一个小节详细说明的那样，它还可以被轻易的复制。

16 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

17 ratify   

v.批准，认可，追认

参考例句：

• The heads of two governments met to ratify the peace treaty.两国政府首脑会晤批准和平条约。
• The agreement have to be ratify by the board.该协议必须由董事会批准。

18 paradox   

n.似乎矛盾却正确的说法；自相矛盾的人(物)

参考例句：

• The story contains many levels of paradox.这个故事存在多重悖论。
• The paradox is that Japan does need serious education reform.矛盾的地方是日本确实需要教育改革。

19 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

20 bungalow   

n.平房，周围有阳台的木造小平房

参考例句：

• A bungalow does not have an upstairs.平房没有上层。
• The old couple sold that large house and moved into a small bungalow.老两口卖掉了那幢大房子，搬进了小平房。