Army Veteran Benjamin Ferencz Posthumously Awarded Congressional Gold Medal
The United States Congress posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal to Benjamin Ferencz, an Army veteran and the last surviving prosecutor of the Nuremberg Trials. The ceremony took place at the U.S. Capitol during the Holocaust Memorial Museum’s annual Days of Remembrance, with family members accepting the honor on his behalf. Ferencz, who died in 2023 at age 103, was just 27 and lacked prior trial experience when he served as chief prosecutor in the historic case against Nazi Einsatzgruppen death squads. Born in Transylvania and emigrating to the U.S. as an infant, Ferencz graduated from Harvard Law School before serving in World War II. After the war, he investigated Nazi war crimes, gathering evidence from concentration camps that revealed the murder of nearly two million Jews by mobile killing units. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand praised Ferencz as a force for good who confronted evil directly. Although Congress voted to bestow the medal in 2022, this recent ceremony formally recognized his lifelong dedication to international justice and his pivotal role in establishing legal precedents for crimes against humanity.
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Army Veteran Benjamin Ferencz Posthumously Awarded Congressional Gold Medal
The United States Congress posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal to Benjamin Ferencz, an Army veteran and the last surviving prosecutor of the Nuremberg Trials. The ceremony took place at the U.S. Capitol during the Holocaust Memorial Museum’s annual Days of Remembrance, with family members accepting the honor on his behalf. Ferencz, who died in 2023 at age 103, was just 27 and lacked prior trial experience when he served as chief prosecutor in the historic case against Nazi Einsatzgruppen death squads. Born in Transylvania and emigrating to the U.S. as an infant, Ferencz graduated from Harvard Law School before serving in World War II. After the war, he investigated Nazi war crimes, gathering evidence from concentration camps that revealed the murder of nearly two million Jews by mobile killing units. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand praised Ferencz as a force for good who confronted evil directly. Although Congress voted to bestow the medal in 2022, this recent ceremony formally recognized his lifelong dedication to international justice and his pivotal role in establishing legal precedents for crimes against humanity.
Military Times