Benjamin Berell Ferencz Congressional Gold Medal Act
Floor Speech
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Mr. GARCIA of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 6015) to award a Congressional Gold Medal to Benjamin Berell Ferencz, in recognition of his service to the United States and international community during the post-World War II Nuremberg trials and lifelong advocacy for international criminal justice and rule of law, as amended.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows: H.R. 6015
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Benjamin Berell Ferencz Congressional Gold Medal Act''. SEC. 2. FINDINGS. Congress finds the following:
(1) Benjamin ``Ben'' Berell Ferencz was born on March 11, 1920, in Transylvania, now modern day Hungary.
(2) In 1920, Ben and his family fled anti-Semitic persecution and emigrated to the United States. Ben grew up in New York City, and in 1940, was awarded a scholarship to Harvard Law School where he graduated with honors.
(3) After the onset of World War II, Ben enlisted in the United States Army in 1943, and joined an anti-aircraft artillery battalion preparing for the invasion of France. As an enlisted man under General Patton, he fought in most of the major campaigns in Europe.
(4) As Nazi atrocities were uncovered, Ben was transferred to a newly created War Crimes Branch of the Army to gather evidence of war crimes that could be used in a court of law to prosecute persons responsible for these crimes. Ben documented the horrors perpetrated by Nazi Germany, visiting concentration camps as they were liberated.
(5) At the end of 1945, Ben was honorably discharged from the United States Army with the rank of Sergeant of Infantry. He had been awarded five battle stars.
(6) In 1946, the United States Government recruited Ben to join the team working on the Nuremberg tribunals, a novel independent court established to try top-ranking Nazi officials for crimes perpetrated during the course of the war, including those crimes we now call the Holocaust. Mr. Ferencz was sent to Berlin to oversee a team of 50 researchers investigating official Nazi records, which provided overwhelming evidence to implicate German doctors, lawyers, judges, generals, industrialists, and others in genocide.
(7) By 1948, at age 27, Ben had secured enough evidence to prosecute 22 SS members of Nazi killing squads charged for the murder of over 1,000,0000 Jewish, Roma, Soviet, and other men, women, and children in shooting massacres in occupied Soviet territory. He was appointed chief prosecutor in the Einsatzgruppen Trial, in what the Associated Press called ``the biggest murder trial in history''. The court found 20 Nazi officials guilty of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and membership in a criminal organization for their roles in the murder of over a million people. An additional two defendants were found guilty for membership in a criminal organization.
(8) After the Nuremberg trials ended, Ben fought for compensation for victims and survivors of the Holocaust, the return of stolen assets, and other forms of restitution for those who had suffered at the hands of the Nazis.
(9) Since the 1970s, Ben has worked tirelessly to promote development of international mechanisms to outlaw and punish aggressive war and the crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. His efforts contributed to the establishment of the International Criminal Court and to the recognition of aggression as an international crime.
(10) Ben is a tireless advocate for international criminal justice and the conviction that the rule of law offers the world a sustainable path to stem conflict and reach peaceful conclusions to geopolitical disputes. His unwavering goal has been ``to establish a legal precedent that would encourage a more humane and secure world in the future''.
(11) Ben, at age 101, is still active, giving speeches throughout the world about lessons learned during his extraordinary career. He is compelled by the imperative to ``replace the rule of force with the rule of law'', promoting judicial mechanisms that can resolve conflict. He often tells young people to ``never give up'' because the fight for peace and justice is worth the long struggle ahead. SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL.
(a) Presentation Authorized.--The Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President pro tempore of the Senate shall make appropriate arrangements for the presentation, on behalf of the Congress, of a gold medal of appropriate design to Benjamin Berell Ferencz, in recognition of his service to the United States and international community during the post-World War II Nuremberg trials and lifelong advocacy for international criminal justice and rule of law.
(b) Design and Striking.--For purposes of the presentation referred to in subsection (a), the Secretary of the Treasury (referred to in this Act as the ``Secretary'') shall strike a gold medal with suitable emblems, devices, and inscriptions, to be determined by the Secretary. SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS.
(a) In General.--The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in bronze of the gold medal struck pursuant to section 3 under such regulations as the Secretary may prescribe, at a price sufficient to cover the cost thereof, including labor, materials, dies, use of machinery, and overhead expenses.
(b) United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.--
(1) In general.--The Secretary shall provide a duplicate medal described under subsection (a) to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
(2) Sense of congress.--It is the sense of Congress that the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum should make the duplicate medal received under this subsection available for display to the public whenever the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum determines that such display is timely, feasible, and practical. SEC. 5. STATUS OF MEDALS.
(a) National Medals.--The medals struck pursuant to this Act are national medals for purposes of chapter 51 of title 31, United States Code.
(b) Numismatic Items.--For purposes of section 5134 of title 31, United States Code, all medals struck under this Act shall be considered to be numismatic items. SEC. 6. DETERMINATION OF BUDGETARY EFFECTS.
The budgetary effects of this Act, for the purpose of complying with the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010, shall be determined by reference to the latest statement titled ``Budgetary Effects of PAYGO Legislation'' for this Act, submitted for printing in the Congressional Record by the Chairman of the House Budget Committee, provided that such statement has been submitted prior to the vote on passage.
Today I will share with my colleagues the incredible life story and mission of Benjamin Ferencz, the chief prosecutor at the Einsatzgruppen Trial in Nuremberg, Germany, the man who brought to justice the individuals responsible for orchestrating the horrific war crimes committed during World War II.
I thank the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Frankel) for sponsoring H.R. 6015, this bill, honoring Mr. Ferencz's life and legacy. Benjamin Ferencz and his family immigrated to the United States when he was an infant, fleeing the persecution of Hungarian Jews in Romania.
He grew up poor in New York, but his perseverance, intellect, and yearning for justice earned him a scholarship from Harvard Law School. He joined the Army shortly after graduation and was tasked with gathering evidence on Nazi war crimes against the Jewish people and other marginalized groups, a fate that his own family could have met had they not fled.
At the age of 27, he was appointed chief prosecutor for the United States Army for a case involving war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by 22 individuals from Einsatzgruppen, a Nazi secret police death squad operating in Nazi-controlled Eastern Europe. He declared in his opening statement that the purpose of this case was ``to affirm by international penal action man's right to live in peace and dignity, regardless of his race or creed . . . a plea of humanity to law.''
The 22 defendants were charged with the murder of over one million people, including Jews, ethnic minorities, political dissidents, persons with disabilities, and members of the LGBTQ community, those who the Third Reich deemed to be different and, therefore, lesser. Mr. Ferencz secured conviction for all 22 defendants.
He spent the following decade advocating for the institution of an international criminal court and the international rule of law to prevent something like the Nuremberg trials from ever being necessary again. As Ferencz stated, ``If law is to be respected it must apply equally to everyone everywhere. If a permanent international criminal court had already existed, these ad hoc tribunals would not have been necessary.''
Throughout his life, Mr. Ferencz sought to make the world a safer, more equitable, and more peaceful place through his denunciations of war and his advocacy for the institution of international criminal law.
For these reasons, I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 6015, which would grant Mr. Ferencz the highest congressional honor for his tireless efforts to advance justice.
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Mr. GARCIA of Illinois. Lois Frankel), the sponsor of the bill.
Ms. LOIS FRANKEL of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding and to my colleagues for their articulate words today.
Mr. Speaker, I rise with great pride as we move forward with a bipartisan bill to award the last living Nuremberg prosecutor, a prosecutor against Nazi criminals, Mr. Benjamin Ferencz, awarding him the Congressional Gold Medal, Congress' highest expression of appreciation for distinguished achievements.
In this day of partisan conflict, this is a rare show of bipartisanship with 296 cosponsors from both sides of the aisle. Mr. Ferencz is 102 years old, and to this day, is a tireless advocate for the rule of law and international justice. I have met Mr. Ferencz because I am blessed to say he is my constituent in Del Ray Beach, Florida, and he remains very alert and very humble.
My colleagues have said it, and I am going to quickly repeat a little of his history.
Mr. Ferencz emigrated to the United States with his family--he was only 10 months old--to escape the persecution of Jews in Eastern Europe. He grew up in New York City, eventually earning degrees from City College and Harvard Law School before serving in the Army during World War II.
He enlisted under General Patton before being transferred to a newly created war crimes unit to help collect evidence of Nazi war crimes. He would enter concentration camps and come face to face with the horrors of the Nazi regime's systematic murder of millions of Jews.
He once said: ``Even today, when I close my eyes, I witness a deadly vision I can never forget--the crematoria aglow with the fire of burning flesh, the mounds of emaciated corpses stacked like cordwood waiting to be burned. I had peered into hell.''
After the war, he was honorably discharged and awarded five battle stars for his service. And that is when he was recruited for his most notable role, chief prosecutor of the Nuremberg trial, that was later called the biggest murder trial in history. At age 27, it was his first case, and yet, he rose to the occasion, reminding the courtroom and the world that this was a case that dealt with our humanity.
And in his closing statement, he concluded about the Nazis on trial: ``Death was their tool and life their toy.'' And if they were found innocent: `` . . . then law has lost its meaning and man must live in fear.'' Not only did his words ring true in the courtroom, where all 22 Nazis officials he prosecuted were brought to justice, they resonated around the world and have been quoted time and time again when the international community rallies to decry crimes against humanity.
Nearly 80 days after the conclusion of these trials, we meet here during Jewish American History Month, after having just celebrated Israel's Independence Day and observing Yom HaShoah, the day set aside for Jews to remember the Holocaust. It is important to recognize we are still fighting the ongoing battle against racism, anti-Semitism, and Holocaust denial in this country and around the world, as we witness in horror the inhumanity of Putin's war on Ukraine.
So the timing of this bill has never been more important because Mr. Ferencz inspires us to stand up to the cruel barbarians of this world. Mr. Ferencz said it best: ``Nuremberg taught me that creating a world of tolerance and compassion would be a long and arduous task.'' His lifelong philosophy of ``law not war'' and ``never give up'' was quoted recently by Ukraine's Ambassador.
Today, in bipartisan fashion, we are going to recognize this magnificent man, committed to justice, peace, and human dignity with the Congressional Gold Medal.
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Mr. GARCIA of Illinois. Manning).
Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleagues, the gentlewoman from Florida, Congresswoman Frankel, for her leadership in sponsoring H.R. 6015, and for working so hard to ensure that Mr. Ferencz receives the recognition that he so clearly deserves.
Through his prosecutorial work, his teaching, his written works and his advocacy, for the establishment of the International Criminal Court, he has directly and indirectly brought countless criminals to justice and left a lasting humanitarian legacy.
The recent reports of Russian atrocities being committed against the people of Ukraine are a reminder that war crimes are far from being a relic of a past.
Now more than ever, we must act to honor and uplift those who have dedicated their lives to advancing justice, peace, and giving a voice to the voiceless.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on H.R. 6015, and I yield back the balance of my time.
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