[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.

                          ____________________