[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 78 (Tuesday, May 10, 2022)]
[House]
[Pages H4755-H4758]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
BENJAMIN BERELL FERENCZ CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL ACT
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
[[Page H4756]]
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.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
Illinois (Mr. Garcia) and the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Hill) each
will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Illinois.
Mr. GARCIA of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I
may consume.
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.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. HILL. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 6015, the
Benjamin Berell Ferencz Congressional Gold Medal Act. I thank
Congresswoman Frankel and the numerous original cosponsors for their
work on this legislation.
Mr. Speaker, Ben Ferencz was the last surviving prosecutor in the
Nuremberg trials. A few minutes ago, we were reflecting on how few Army
Rangers we have left from World War II. Truly, the Greatest Generation
is passing before us.
Ben Ferencz is one of the few people remaining on Earth who had a
front row seat to witness the horrors brought about by Nazi Germany
before and during the war. As we witness the horrors now being carried
out in Ukraine, it has never been more important for the world to hear
his story.
Ben Ferencz's family fled to New York City to escape Romania's
persecution of the Hungarian Jews. As a young man, Ferencz studied at
the City College of New York and attended Harvard Law on a scholarship.
After graduating from Harvard in 1943, Ferencz joined the U.S. Army.
Like so many Americans, this was a decision that put him face to face
with the potential of death and face to face with the worst case of
persecution and genocide in history, the Holocaust.
After 2 years at Camp Davis in Holly Ridge, North Carolina, Ferencz
was transferred to the headquarters of General Patton's Third Army.
There he was assigned to a team tasked with setting up a war crimes
branch, collecting the evidence of the horrors that had been carried
out at the recently liberated concentration camps. One of those
liberators in April 1945 was my father-in-law, Captain William A.
McKenzie, a brand-new graduate of Texas A&M University, an Army
engineer with Patton's Third Army. One spring day in April 1945, their
convoy rolled up to the gates of Buchenwald concentration camp.
{time} 1715
There, he bore witness to the Nazi terror, a terror that started with
an
[[Page H4757]]
ideology of hate and superiority based on race and creed.
Bill McKenzie was just a good kid from Texas, put in an incredible
position, and that was being one of the first U.S. Army officers to see
smoke still coming out of the chimneys, bodies stacked up, and
survivors.
In 1994, at the 50th anniversary of freedom in Europe and Paris, Bill
McKenzie, that skinny captain from Texas A&M, got to meet a survivor
from Buchenwald, Jacques Graubart, who was from Brussels, who had been
imprisoned in Buchenwald and survived, and 50 years later, they met
face to face in Paris, France.
Mr. McKenzie swaggered up to this man and said, Well, what unit were
you in in World War II? And Mr. Gruber said, I wasn't in a unit. I was
in the Buchenwald concentration camp.
And Mr. McKenzie was so caught with emotion, so embarrassed for his
question, that he said, I never expected to meet a survivor. And
Jacques looked at Bill McKenzie and said, I never expected to meet
someone who saved us to say thank you.
So today, we are back on this floor to thank the work of Ben Ferencz
and so many Americans and other Allies who worked against the ideology
of the Nazis, such an affront to American values. And Ben Ferencz was
there to put those puzzle pieces together that those American Army
officers found at Buchenwald.
Ben Ferencz would travel to that concentration camp. He would collect
the evidence of the horrors. He would honor us with the work in that
war crimes branch. And Sergeant Ferencz was honorably discharged in
1945 and recruited to work on those trials for many, many years. For
three years he led the researchers investigating those records, and we
know it was no easy task.
As the lead prosecutor for the Einsatzgruppen case, Ben Ferencz
successfully convicted 22 men for taking part in a mobile death squad,
which was responsible for nearly a third of Jewish civilian deaths. His
work at the Nuremburg trials established an incredible mandate for
international criminal responsibility for the commission of war crimes
and crimes against humanity.
And Ben Ferencz' work, his sacrifice, echoes true for all of us as we
see what Assad has done in Syria, and we see what Putin is doing in
Ukraine. Ferencz' career spanned several decades and included fighting
for proper compensation for the victims and the survivors of the
Holocaust and working to establish an International Criminal Court.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to come together in support of this
bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.
General Leave
Mr. GARCIA of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all
Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend
their remarks on this legislation and to insert extraneous material
thereon.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Illinois?
There was no objection.
Mr. GARCIA of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the
gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. 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.
Mr. HILL. Mr. Speaker, I am prepared to close, and I reserve the
balance of my time.
Mr. GARCIA of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the
gentlewoman from North Carolina (Ms. Manning).
Ms. MANNING. Mr. Speaker, I thank my good friend, Congresswoman
Frankel, for her efforts to recognize the hard work and dedication of
Benjamin Ferencz. It is quite fitting that Mr. Ferencz be awarded the
Congressional Gold Medal for his remarkable work prosecuting Nazis
during the Nuremburg trials at this particular time.
First, because at a time when immigrants are being villainized, Mr.
Ferencz is an example of an immigrant who fled to this country from the
persecution of Jews by the Nazis and made this country proud with his
military service and with his tireless advocacy for justice at the
Nuremburg trials.
Second, because at a time of rising anti-Semitism globally and in
this country, it is important to honor Mr. Ferencz who fought to hold
responsible those whose anti-Semitic actions resulted in an
unprecedented genocide: the murder of 6 million innocent Jews.
Third, because today we are witnessing another tyrant, Vladimir
Putin, who reminds us of the brutality, the unprovoked aggression, and
the unbridled cruelty of Adolf Hitler and his war machine.
We can only hope that when Mr. Putin's aggression against Ukraine and
the Ukrainian people is put to an end, we have honorable and highly-
skilled people like Mr. Ferencz who will hold Putin and other war
criminals accountable in a court of law.
[[Page H4758]]
Finally, during this Jewish History Month, it is a privilege to
recognize a Jew who served his country and his people with distinction,
honor, and success. Mr. Ferencz was the embodiment of the Biblical
instruction: Justice, justice you shall pursue.
Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague, Ms. Frankel, for her effort to
make sure this Gold Medal is awarded to such a deserving recipient.
Mr. HILL. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume, and
I am prepared to close.
Mr. Speaker, let me thank Ms. Frankel for her leadership,
Congresswoman Manning for her testimony there, and we all, on both
sides of the aisle, stand in recognition of Ben Ferencz' pioneering
efforts of his and his colleagues in the Nuremberg trials for laying
out the protection of evidence, the careful documentation of it,
preserving a way to convict the perpetrators of the Holocaust.
Those lessons and Ben Ferencz' legacy live on today, as just a few
months ago we received one of our first convictions in a court in
Germany of an Assad henchman for murder and mayhem in Syria. There is
no doubt in my mind that the chain of evidence and the actions of this
Congress, the actions of the United Nations, to promptly set up an
evidence protection and evidence documentation effort for Ukraine will
bear fruit in coming days. Those are all efforts standing on the
shoulders of Ben Ferencz and his colleagues in Nuremburg.
I urge all my colleagues to support this recognition of his efforts.
Mr. Speaker, I urge a ``yes'' vote, and I yield back the balance of
my time.
Mr. GARCIA of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my
time.
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.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Garcia) that the House suspend the rules
and pass the bill, H.R. 6015, as amended.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the
rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
____________________