I 
117TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 6015 
To award a Congressional Gold Medal to Benjamin Berell Ferencz, in recogni-
tion 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. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
NOVEMBER 18, 2021 
Ms. LOIS FRANKEL of Florida (for herself, Mr. WILSON of South Carolina, 
Mr. DEUTCH, Mr. BILIRAKIS, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. SMITH of New Jer-
sey, Mr. FITZPATRICK, Mr. RYAN, Mr. MANN, Mr. LOWENTHAL, Mr. 
SUOZZI, Mrs. CAMMACK, Mrs. TRAHAN, Mr. ELLZEY, Ms. SALAZAR, Mr. 
KHANNA, Mr. DIAZ-BALART, Mrs. MILLER-MEEKS, Ms. CASTOR of Flor-
ida, Mr. TRONE, Mr. COHEN, Mr. CARSON, Mr. VARGAS, Mr. 
GOTTHEIMER, Mrs. LURIA, Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York, 
Ms. NORTON, Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky, Ms. WILSON of Florida, Mr. 
SOTO, Ms. BONAMICI, Ms. MENG, and Mr. CICILLINE) introduced the fol-
lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services, 
and in addition to the Committee on the Budget, for a period to be subse-
quently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such 
provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
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. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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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-Se-
mitic 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 en-
listed 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 Gen-
eral Patton, he fought in most of the major cam-
paigns 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 con-
centration camps as they were liberated. 
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(5) At the end of 1945, Ben was honorably dis-
charged 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 re-
cruited Ben to join the team working on the Nurem-
berg tribunals, a novel independent court established 
to try top-ranking Nazi officials for crimes per-
petrated 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 research-
ers investigating official Nazi records, which pro-
vided 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 occu-
pied Soviet territory. He was appointed chief pros-
ecutor in the Einsatzgruppen Trial, in what the As-
sociated Press called ‘‘the biggest murder trial in 
history’’. The court found 20 Nazi officials guilty of 
war crimes, crimes against humanity, and member-
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ship 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 rec-
ognition 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 con-
flict and reach peaceful conclusions to geopolitical 
disputes. His unwavering goal has been ‘‘to establish 
a legal precedent that would encourage a more hu-
mane and secure world in the future’’. 
(11) Ben, at age 101, is still active, giving 
speeches throughout the world about lessons learned 
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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 jus-
tice 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 tem-
pore 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 inter-
national community during the post-World War II Nurem-
berg 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 ‘‘Sec-
retary’’) shall strike a gold medal with suitable emblems, 
devices, and inscriptions, to be determined by the Sec-
retary. 
SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may strike and sell 
duplicates in bronze of the gold medal struck pursuant 
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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 MU-
SEUM.— 
(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 Memo-
rial Museum should make the duplicate medal re-
ceived 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 pursu-
ant 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. 
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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, pro-
vided that such statement has been submitted prior to the 
vote on passage. 
Æ 
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