On 15 February 2023, Professor Dr Christoph Safferling takes on the position of the Nuremberg Academy‘s new Director. A proven expert on the subject with in-depth knowledge of the institution, he has closely accompanied the Nuremberg Academy since its very beginnings: first as Chairman of the Academic Founding Committee and, after the Nuremberg Academy's foundation, as a Vice-President of its Advisory Council.
Professor Dr Safferling LL.M. (LSE) is Professor of Criminal Law, Criminal Law Procedure, International Criminal Law and Public International Law at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany, and Director of its Research Unit International Criminal Law. Moreover, he is the Whitney R. Harris International Law Fellow of the Robert H. Jackson Center in Jamestown N.Y. In 2018 he was visiting scholar at the Stanford Center for Human Rights and International Justice.
In addition to his professorship at Philipps Universität Marburg and his position as Director of its Research and Documentation Centre War Crimes Trials (2006-2015), he has been a member of the Independent Academic Commission at the Federal Ministry of Justice for the Critical Study of the National Socialist Past. Already in his doctorate, Professor Dr Safferling dealt with the International Criminal Court and human rights in criminal proceedings. He helped establish the Memorium Nuremberg Trials. Most recently, he examined the activities and biographies of German federal prosecutors in the post-war period in the book "Staatsschutz im Kalten Krieg" ("State Security in the Cold War“).
His main fields of research are contemporary legal history, international criminal law and the subjective elements of the crime. He has widely published articles and books in the field of criminal law, international law and human rights law.
Professor Dr Safferling succeeds Klaus Rackwitz as Director of the Academy, who has held the position since 2016 and has now retired. After the founding phase of the Academy, Klaus Rackwitz achieved to establish the Academy as an important player in the field of international criminal law (ICL) and to implement it as an integral part of the international ICL community.
In a short interim period Dr Viviane Dittrich served as Acting Director of the Academy.