Ferencz interviewed by Morris B. Abram

Ferencz interviewed by Morris B. Abram 

Ferencz interviewed by Morris B. Abram 

Radio interview with Benjamin Ferencz. Host: Morris B. Abram, former president of the American Jewish Committee and US Representative to the UN Commission of Human Rights. Program presented by the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. Ferencz speaks about his book on Jewish forced labor during World War II,"Less Than Slave" (1979). He describes the Nazi program of Vernichtung durch Arbeit [destruction through work], German industry, victims' guilt of employment, the 1951 McCloy clemency act, and the search for reparations for victims. Ferencz argues that most German industrialists denied involvement after the war, explaining that they employed few, that they were forced, that conditions were good, or that they saved lives. In fact, as Ferencz shows through historical documentation, in order to get labor from concentration camps, German industrialists had to engage in a complicated and elaborate application process. His book tries to deal with the philosophical and moral problems of guilt while inspiring compassion. Abram calls the book"thoroughly fascinatin" and one ripe with moral lessons.