“During the trial by the International Military Tribunal conducted by the US, UK, USSR and France,” he continued, “I do not recall having seen a female in the courtroom as either prosecutor, defense counsel or judge. In the 12 ‘Subsequent Proceedings’ run by the US at Nuremberg, there was no female on the bench nor as defense counsel selected by the accused.” But, Mr. Ferencz added, he recalled 3 women who served on the prosecution team in the “Subsequent Proceedings” at Nuremberg—Mary Kaufman, Belle Mayer Zeck, and Ms. Goetz, known as “Ceil.”
A profile of in the alumni magazine of New York University Law School, where Cecelia Goetz was editor-in-chief of the law review, describes her journey from the Solicitor’s Office of the Department of Justice to Nuremberg:
At the Department of Justice, Goetz became the first woman ever to be offered a supervisory role. She declined this in favor of joining the prosecution team at the Nuremberg Trials. She had been following the reports of human rights abuses during World War II and very much wanted the opportunity to take part in bringing the perpetrators of the abuses to justice. To achieve this took persistence on her part. The War Department did not want women appointed to senior level positions. It was Brigadier General Telford Taylor who recognized her credentials and pushed for her appointment. Goetz spent two years in Nuremberg with the Office of Chief of Counsel for War Crimes, as an associate counsel in the prosecution of the Flick and Krupp cases. Decades later upon reflecting on all of her achievements she still considered the time spent there as the most important work in which she had ever been involved. In retrospect, it was quite an impressive accomplishment considering the barriers that existed. At that time many law schools did not even admit women.I believe Mr. Ferencz has identified my real name. But I will continue to post under the name Beatrice, now used as a short-hand for of all of the path-breaking women lawyers at Nuremberg—whose real names and contributions deserve to be known, remembered, and honored.