The French Foreign Ministry has been forced to begin negotiations with the U.S. State Department about making payments to Holocaust survivors or risk losing out on a billion dollar contract. The state-owned Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer Français (SNCF) runs some of the fastest and most efficient lines in the world but has a dark history which saw it transport thousands of Jews to their deaths in German concentration camps. The company transported some 76,000 French Jews to Nazi concentration camps during the wartime occupation – of which only about 3,000 survived. State-owned SNCF runs some of the fastest and most efficient lines in the world but has a dark history which saw it transport thousands of Jews to their deaths in German concentration camps
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SNCF runs some of the most efficient railway lines in the world but has a dark history during which it transported thousands of Jews to their deaths
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The government owned company has repeatedly denied requests to make reparation payments to Holocaust survivors
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U.S. subsidiary Keolis is facing growing criticism that it shouldn't receive a $6.5 billion contract in Maryland because of it's parent company's actions
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Leo Bretholz, a 92-year-old Holocaust survivor who lives in Maryland, has gathered more than 150,000 signatures opposing SNCF
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He doesn't believe local tax dollars should go toward SNCF or its subsidiaries
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The Maryland state legislature will debate a bill this month to prevent it from doing work with companies that haven't paid reparations
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A lawyer representing some 600 Jews has now received a communication from SNCF to start discussing her clients' expectations
Holocaust survivor Leo Bretholz, now 92, points to his name in a record book of passengers of french trains / convoys bound for @placeholder death camps