Benjamin Berell Ferencz Congressional Gold Medal Act
Bill: S.4587 | Sponsor: Sen. Gillibrand, Kirsten E. (D-NY)
Policy area: International Affairs

Summary:
Benjamin Berell Ferencz Congressional Gold Medal Act
This bill provides for the award of a Congressional Gold Medal to Benjamin Berell Ferencz in recognition of his service to the United States and the international community during the post-World War II Nuremberg trials and his lifelong advocacy for international criminal justice and the rule of law.

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 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 5 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 2 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 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 
        bronze 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. AUTHORITY TO USE FUND AMOUNTS; PROCEEDS OF SALE.

    (a) Authority To Use Fund Amounts.--There is authorized to be 
charged against the United States Mint Public Enterprise Fund such 
amounts as may be necessary to pay for the costs of the medals struck 
under this Act.
    (b) Proceeds of Sale.--Amounts received from the sale of duplicate 
bronze medals authorized under section 4 shall be deposited into the 
United States Mint Public Enterprise Fund.
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