Letter from Benjamin B. Ferencz to Sheldon Glueck, April 16, 1948 - page 1

MISCELLANEOUS 16 J^ril 1948 Dr. Sheldon Glueck Harvard Lav School Cambridge 38, Massachusetts Dear Professor Gluoek! Д&; Under separate cover 1 am sending you a copy of the Judg¬ ment in the Bineat zgruppen Case. All of the 22 defendants were con¬ victed and 14 were sentenced to death. The Judgment itself Is an outstanding contribution to International law and the fight cgalnst intolerance and persecution. If you can find time to read it, you will robably find the section on Grim* against Humanity of considerable inter -'St. In general things in Wurnberg are going Very badly but no worse than you anticipated. With the help of American friends, the defendants have succeeded in putting the prosecution on the defensive. The case against the S3 Race and Settlement Office turned out to be a farce with the timid Judges completely terrified by the defendants howling of "unfair*. Host of the defendants were released with either acquittal or reprimand. There are only four cases left to be еош- r leted and the Hurnberg program will be closed. The cate against fourteen members of the Iasi High Command will be completed around June while literally hundreds of their colleagues remain at large. It is unfortunately a fact that we have in our files clear evidence of mass murder on the part of dozens of Gegerale now working with the Americans and we are prevented from doing anything with it* The feeling is that these Generals, even though they be mass murderers, know more about the Russians than we do and it is best not to anta¬ gonize them if we hope to make use of their talents in the future* The utter prostitution of ideals is mat discouraging. The ease against the leaders of the Xrupp concern was badly wounded when the Tribunal rejected the Count charging the Krupp defendants with re- paring for aggressive war. They are now beginning the defense to the charges of spoliating foreign property and abusing slave laborers. The ease against the Parben officials is proceeding better than anticipated and should also be closed by June, Our last case against members of the foreign Office and assorted big-wigs will probably dose in August and it is anybody1 s guess about the result* Ife have been under tremendous pressure to pack u and go home, for the prosecution of war criminals Is now an anarch! m* It is hard to say whether our failure exceeds that of Leipzig for thougjf we have successfully prosecuted many more criminals the magnitude of the .ftati barbarities perhaps makes the ratio equal.