Advanced Search

Learn About The Holocaust

Special Collections

My Saved Research

Login

Register

Help

Skip to main content

Engraved sterling silver tea tray honoring recipient's service to the URO

Object | Accession Number: 1994.97.1
1994.97.1 back Engraved sterling silver tea tray honoring recipient's service to the URO Click to enlarge 1994.97.1 front Engraved sterling silver tea tray honoring recipient's service to the URO Click to enlarge

Sterling silver tea tray presented to Benjamin Ferencz from the staff of the JRSO, LAD, and URO (United Restitution Organization) commemorating his service from 1948-1956 in Nuremberg and Frankfurt, Germany.

Date
1948-1956  (commemoration)
1956  (received)
Geography
received : Frankfurt am Main (Germany)
Language
English
Classification
Household Utensils
Category
Tableware
Object Type
Tea trays (lcsh)
Credit Line
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Benjamin B. Ferencz
Expand all

About This Object

Physical Description
Large oval sterling silver tray with a raised, beveled, scalloped edge that was part of a coffee and tea service, with an engraved inscription in English on the underside.
Dimensions
overall : 14.750 x 18.625 x 0.313 in. (37.465 x 47.308 x 0.795 cm.)
Materials
overall : silver
Inscription
reverse, engraved : To Benny and Gertrude, presented by JRSO LAD and URO Staff Members in friendly remembrance of common work for a good cause 1948-1956, Nurnberg; Frankfurt / M. ( list of staff members from the URO and JRSO follows.)
Contributor
Subject: Benjamin B. Ferencz
Biography
Benjamin B. Ferencz was born on March 11, 1920, in Somcuta-Mare, Romania, in the Carpathian Mountains of Transylvania. When he was 10 months old, his family immigrated to the United States. He grew up in the Hell's Kitchen section of New York City. He received degrees from City College of New York and Harvard Law School. After receiving his law degree in 1943, he enlisted in the United States Army, where he was an anti-aircraft gunner. Toward the end of the war, he was assigned to the war crimes investigating team charged with recovering evidence for war crimes trials in German towns and in Nazi concentration camps. On December 26, 1945, Sergeant of Infantry Ferencz was honorably discharged. Soon after he returned to the US, he was asked by Telford Taylor to serve as chief prosecutor in the Nuremberg Trial of U.S. v. Ohlendorf, known as the Einsatzgruppen Case, which prosecuted members of Nazi extermination squads. After Nuremberg, he became involved in the issue of restitution of the victims of Nazi atrocities. He was appointed Director-General of the Jewish Restitution Successor Organization and served until 1956. He also was Director of the United Restitution Organization from 1951 until 1993. Ferencz has published a number of legal texts on the topics of world peace and international criminal law. His book, "Less Than Slaves," documents the effort to gain restitution for slave laborers used by the Nazi regime. He and his wife Gertrude have four children. Ferencz remains an advocate of an international criminal court and a proponent of the United Nations and world peace.

Keywords and Subjects

Administrative History

Legal Status
Permanent Collection
Provenance
The tray was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1994 by Benjamin Ferencz.

Rights and Restrictions

Conditions on Access
No restrictions on access
Conditions on Use
No restrictions on use
 
Record last modified: 2018-01-11 14:22:36
This page: https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn8895

Also in Benjamin B. Ferencz collection

The collection consists of a silver tea tray presented to Benjamin Ferencz to honor his service to the United Restitution Organization from 1948-1956 in Germany.

Date: 1956

Tray commemorating a postwar agreement

Tray commemorating a postwar agreement

Object

Tray to commemorate the signing of the first financial agreement between a German state and a Jewish organization since the advent of Adolf Hitler.

Commemorative plate to honor a lawyer for his work on behalf of Holocaust survivors

Commemorative plate to honor a lawyer for his work on behalf of Holocaust survivors

Object

Decorative plate presented to Benjamin Ferencz in Warsaw by the Polish Committee of the Red Cross. It was given as a token of appreciation for his help in obtaining compensation from Nazi Germany for the Catholic women who had been victims of Nazi medical experiments while they were inmates in the concentration camp of Ravensbrueck.

Sculpture of Moses presented to honor a lawyer's dedication to the rule of law

Sculpture of Moses presented to honor a lawyer's dedication to the rule of law

Object

Sculpture presented by the artist to Ben Ferencz as a token of appreciation for his dedication to the rule of law and the Hebrew tradition of humanity.

Commemorative desk set presented by the JRSO to a chief prosecutor, Nuremberg Trials

Commemorative desk set presented by the JRSO to a chief prosecutor, Nuremberg Trials

Object

Desk set presented to Benjamin Ferencz at a luncheon held by the leading Jewish organizations that comprised the membership of the JRSO.

Printing plate

Printing plate

Object

Plaque

Plaque

Object

"War Crimes Trials: United States of America v. Otto Ohlendorf et al."

Document

Contains a 27-volume series of publications entitled "War Crimes Trials: United States of America v. Otto Ohlendorf et al." containing transcripts from the "Einsatzgruppen trial," number 9 of the subsequent Nuremberg proceedings. All volumes are rectangular form; marbelized gray cardboard cover with blue textile corners; blue textile spine with goldleaf lettering; typed text on interior pages.

View Collection