We just lost Benjamin Ferencz. Age 103. Born in Transylvania, reared in Hell’s Kitchen poverty — his father a janitor.
Harvard law graduate, lawyer, US Army soldier. Last surviving prosecutor of 1947’s historic Nuremberg trials.
January 2002. I sat alongside prosecutor Ferencz. Front row. In Courtroom 600, Palace of Justice in Nuremberg. Hitler’s actual courtroom. Huge chamber. Marble walls. Wooden seats. Crystal chandeliers. Five elevators. The windows were bricked up so no one could shoot in.
The cauldron of Naziism. Where it began with the Third Reich’s legal profession swearing allegiance to the Fuehrer.
Twenty defendants. Convicted of killing 1 million people.
Touro Law professor Judge Sol Wachtler invited international legal minds to memorialize the Holocaust, largest murder trial in human history.
It was so traumatic that moderator Wachtler lost his voice. Prosecutor Ferencz scrambled to find him a lozenge.
Those who didn’t speak German heard translations on headsets. Its “Betrayal of the Rule of Law in Nazi Germany” film later premiered at the NYC Bar Association. Benjamin Ferencz pointed out that Hitler’s power began with co-opting the existing rules of law — and America must take care that doesn’t begin here.
On his 100th birthday he said: “I have no time to die. I’ve got too much to do.”
Listen up!
Everything that time has swept away has come back — except for the prices.
Once famous interviews — Eleanor Roosevelt, Tennessee Williams, Rod Serling, Frank Lloyd Wright, Oscar Hammerstein, Henry Kissinger — are now on Sirius XM.
Like Sammy Davis Jr.’s: “My great-grandfather was a slave. Even if I’m with Frank Sinatra my great-grandfather was a slave. I can’t deny it or shoo it away.”
Salvador Dali: “My painting, showmanship and technique is only to express the total personality of Dali.”
Zsa Zsa: “I find time to spend with my daughter in between private schools and public weddings.”
Paul Newman in 1960: “I pop a pretty good batch of popcorn.”
Shady guy
More yesterday. Joe Pesci — website BadazzGlazz.com — he’s now wanting to make and sell sunglasses.
“Filming ‘The Irishman’ in 2018, my sunglasses got compliments. So I created my own — stylish but practical. Comfortable, look great, OK for formal or casual.”
He calls Pete Davidson a fan. How that helps, who knows. Styles Cinema and Primo start at $99. And discounts? Fuhgeddaboudit.
Mafia show could be hit again
More bygones: Stevie van Zandt wants to revive his 2012 show “Lilyhammer.”
“That was Netflix’s first show. I want to bring it back. People ask about it. But I’m booked for the next two years touring with Bruce Springsteen.”
Saying this, stylish stylist van Zandt was inside a jacket and matching headband. Both purple.
Definition of a Washington, DC, conference: a group who individually can do nothing. But as a group can meet and decide that nothing can be done.
Only in Washington, kids, only in Washington.