Ben Ferenzc He was the last prosecutor alive of those who took part in the Nuremberg trialsthe trial that tried Nazi officers for their crimes in the WWII. The retired attorney died Friday at age 103 at a residential care home in Bonynton Beach, Florida, the Holocaust Museum confirmed.

“Today the world has lost a leader in the quest for justice for the victims of genocide and related crimes. We mourn the death of Ben Ferencz, the last Nuremberg prosecutor for war crimes,” the museum wrote on its social media.

Ben Ferenzc was born in Transylvania, but grew up in the United States and trained as a lawyer at Harvard Law School. He later enlisted in the United States Army and took part in the Allied invasion of Normandy in the Battle of the Bulge.

After rising to the rank of sergeant, he devoted himself to researching and collecting evidence of Nazi maneuvers and war crimes in concentration camps.

“There is no question that I was forever traumatized by my experiences as a war crimes investigator in Nazi death camps,” Ferenzc said.

At the age of 27 and as chief prosecutor, Ferenzc was responsible for sending 22 former German party soldiers to prison. Of those 22, 13 were sentenced to death, but only 4 were executed.

the Nuremberg trials

After World War II, hundreds of Nazi officers were convicted of their war crimes in what became known as the Nuremberg Trials. That’s what the legal process was called because it took place at the Palace of Justice in Nuremberg, Germany. It was the same place where the racial laws against the Jews were enacted in 1935, and it was also the only building still standing after the bombing during the war.

The trials began in November 1945, the same year the war ended with a German defeat. The sessions of the Nuremberg Trials lasted until September 30, 1946. On Tuesday, October 1 of that year, the trials concluded with the reading of the verdicts to the accused.

Some of the defendants were Rudolf Hess, Chief of Cabinet of Adolf Hitler, Hermann Göring, Supreme Commander of the Luftwaffe and Alfred Jodl, Chief of the General Staff of the Wehrmacht

A total of 611 people were brought to justice, despite the fact that 4,850 petitions had been received.