The documentary by Ilona Kalmbach and Sabine Jainski (45 min.) presents the life and legacy of Judge Thomas Buergenthal, honorary president of the Advisory Council of the International Nuremberg Principles Academy, 70 years after the adoption of those principles and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: seeking for accountability without revenge, and promoting human rights worldwide. Since its founding, Judge Buergenthal has been committed to the Nuremberg Academy. The film also shows the work of the Nuremberg Academy in dealing with crimes against humanity and supporting the fight against impunity for international crimes in our times.

Thomas Buergenthal’s life is exemplary in many ways. Surviving the Holocaust at the age of eleven, he witnessed the aftermath of the war in Germany and emigrated to the U.S., where he made a model career in international law. As a professor, he was one of the first to establish the field of International Human Rights Law. In addition, he served as a judge on many international courts, including the International Court of Justice, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, the United Nations Truth Commission for El Salvador and the U.N. Human Rights Committee.

Although Thomas Buergenthal and his family were deported and his father killed in Buchenwald, he overcame his desire for vengeance to deal with this past by a rule of law approach, which he transmitted to his students all over the world.