Ileana Ros-Lehtinen Urges Holocaust Survivors Purse Claims Against SNCF

With the U.S.-France Agreement on Compensation for Certain Victims of Holocaust-Related Deportation from France Who Are Not Covered by French Programs taking effect, U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., urged Holocaust survivors and surviving spouses to reach out to the State Department to see if they are eligible. 

Specifically, Ros-Lehtinen said Holocaust survivors should purse claims if they were sent to concentration camps by French railways company Societé Nationale des Chemins de fer Francais (SNCF) which collaborated with the Nazis. 

“Though it is said the moral universe’s arc bends toward justice, time is not a luxury we can afford any longer,” Ros-Lehtinen said on Monday. “Of the approximately half a million Holocaust survivors, around half of them live in or near poverty. Survivors should be able to live out their remaining days in comfort and with the knowledge that their long-sought justice has finally been achieved.

“Recently, an agreement was reached between the government of France and the United States regarding victims of Holocaust-related deportations during the Nazi era,” Ros-Lehtinen added. “The French rail company – SNCF – knowingly and willfully transported tens of thousands of Holocaust victims to concentration camps and near certain death during the Second World War. If you know anyone who may be eligible to receive compensation under the SNCF agreement, please direct them to the State Department’s website. Remember, the deadline to submit a claim is May 31, 2016 – so get the word out as fast and far as you can.”