II 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 634 

To ensure that the courts of the United States may provide an impartial 

forum for claims brought by United States citizens and others against 

any railroad organized as a separate legal entity, arising from the deportation of United States citizens and others to Nazi concentration camps 

on trains owned or operated by such railroad, and by the heirs and 

survivors of such persons. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 17, 2011 

Mr. SCHUMER (for himself, Mr. LIEBERMAN, Mr. WYDEN, Mr. FRANKEN, Mr. 

NELSON of Florida, Mr. RUBIO, Mrs. GILLIBRAND, and Mr. LAUTENBERG) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To ensure that the courts of the United States may provide 

an impartial forum for claims brought by United States 

citizens and others against any railroad organized as 

a separate legal entity, arising from the deportation of 

United States citizens and others to Nazi concentration 

camps on trains owned or operated by such railroad, 

and by the heirs and survivors of such persons. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Holocaust Rail Justice 

3 Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL FINDINGS. 

5 Congress finds as follows: 

6 (1) During World War II, more than 75,000 

7 Jews and thousands of other persons were deported 

8 from France to Nazi concentration camps, on trains 

9 operated for profit by the Socie ́te ́ Nationale des Che10 mins de fer Franc ̧ais (in this Act referred to as 

11 ‘‘SNCF’’), including deportations to Auschwitz and 

12 Buchenwald. Numerous citizens and residents of the 

13 United States were among those who were on the 

14 trains or had relatives on the trains. United States 

15 servicemen who were pilots shot down over France 

16 were also among the persons deported on the SNCF 

17 trains to Nazi concentration camps. 

18 (2) United States citizens and others have 

19 sought redress against SNCF by filing a class action 

20 suit in the United States District Court for the 

21 Eastern District of New York. The named plaintiffs 

22 and class members include United States Army Air 

23 Force pilots and United States citizens. 

24 (3) The complaint filed alleges that SNCF, a 

25 separate corporate entity that remained independent 

26 during World War II, operated the deportation 


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1 trains for a profit, as ordinary commercial trans2 actions. SNCF remained under French civilian con3 trol throughout World War II and is alleged to have 

4 collaborated willingly with the German Nazi regime. 

5 (4) The complaint alleges that SNCF provided 

6 the necessary rolling stock, scheduled the depar7 tures, and supplied the employees to operate the 

8 trains bound for the concentration camps. SNCF al9 legedly charged an ordinary passenger coach fare for 

10 the deportations, calculated per person and per kilo11 meter, and considered these trains as ordinary com12 mercial activities. The plaintiffs further contend that 

13 SNCF herded as many people as possible into each 

14 car, requiring passengers of all ages and sexes, in15 cluding the elderly and young children, to stand 

16 throughout the trip of several days’ duration, with 

17 no provision for food or water and no sanitary facili18 ties. The complaint further alleges that SNCF 

19 cleaned the trains after each trip, removing the 

20 corpses of persons who perished during transit due 

21 to the execrable conditions of the train cars. The 

22 destination was in each case a camp in which the de23 portees were to be exterminated, worked to death, or 

24 made to suffer terrible and inhuman conditions. 


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1 (5) The complaint contends that SNCF’s ac2 tions violated the Principles of the Nuremberg Tri3 bunal, 1950, relating to crimes under international 

4 law (earlier recognized by the Martens Clause of the 

5 Hague Convention IV of 1907), and aided and abet6 ted the commission of war crimes and crimes against 

7 humanity. SNCF has not denied its actions and has 

8 never disgorged the money that it was paid for the 

9 deportations or otherwise compensated the deportees 

10 or their heirs. 

11 (6) SNCF’s records concerning the deportation 

12 trains have not been made available to the plaintiffs, 

13 and SNCF archives concerning its wartime activities 

14 are not accessible to the general public. 

15 (7) SNCF moved to dismiss the lawsuit on a 

16 claim of sovereign immunity under the foreign sov17 ereign immunities provisions of title 28, United 

18 States Code (28 U.S.C. 1330 and 1602 et seq.), 

19 even though it is one of the 500 largest corporations 

20 in the world, earns hundreds of millions of dollars 

21 from its commercial activities in the United States, 

22 and is not accorded sovereign immunity under the 

23 laws of France. SNCF’s motion to dismiss the law24 suit was granted by the United States District Court 

25 for the Eastern District of New York. Plaintiffs apVerDate Mar 15 2010 04:15 Mar 24, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S634.IS S634

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1 pealed the decision, their appeal was granted, and 

2 the case was remanded for further proceedings. Sub3 sequently, in light of Republic of Austria v. 

4 Altmann, 541 U.S. 677 (2004), in November 2004, 

5 on remand, the Court of Appeals for the Second Cir6 cuit recalled its prior mandate and determined that 

7 SNCF was entitled to immunity and affirmed the 

8 dismissal of the complaint. The Second Circuit stat9 ed that ‘‘the railroad’s conduct at the time lives on 

10 in infamy’’ but concluded that ‘‘the evil actions of 

11 the French national railroad’s former private mas12 ters in knowingly transporting thousands to death 

13 camps during World War II are not susceptible to 

14 legal redress in Federal court today.’’. 

15 (8) This lawsuit, which arises from the unique 

16 historical facts of the deportation of persons to Nazi 

17 concentration camps, presents issues of substantial 

18 importance to citizens and veterans of the United 

19 States. Many of those who have sought redress 

20 against SNCF are elderly and would have difficulty 

21 traveling outside the United States in order to pur22 sue their claims elsewhere. The courts of the United 

23 States are and should be a proper forum for this 

24 lawsuit. The Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act of 

25 1976, which had not been enacted at the time of 


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1 SNCF’s actions during World War II, was not in2 tended to bar suit against the SNCF. 

3 SEC. 3. ACCESS TO UNITED STATES COURTS FOR HOLO4 CAUST DEPORTEES. 

5 (a) JURISDICTION OF DISTRICT COURTS.—The 

6 United States district courts shall have original jurisdic7 tion, without regard to the amount in controversy, of any 

8 civil action for damages for personal injury or death 

9 that— 

10 (1) arose from the deportation of persons to 

11 Nazi concentration camps during the period begin12 ning on January 1, 1942, and ending on December 

13 31, 1944; and 

14 (2) is brought by any such person, or any heir 

15 or survivor of such person, against a railroad that— 

16 (A) owned or operated the trains on which 

17 the persons were so deported; and 

18 (B) was organized as a separate legal enti19 ty at the time of the deportation, whether or 

20 not any of the equity interest in the railroad 

21 was owned by a foreign state. 

22 (b) OTHER LAWS NOT APPLICABLE.—Sections 1330 

23 and 1601 through 1611 of title 28, United States Code, 

24 or any other law limiting the jurisdiction of the United 


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1 States courts, whether by statute or under common law, 

2 shall not preclude any action under subsection (a). 

3 (c) INAPPLICABILITY OF STATUTES OF LIMITA4 TION.—An action described in subsection (a) shall not be 

5 barred by a defense that the time for bringing such action 

6 has expired under a statute of limitations. 

7 (d) APPLICABILITY.—This section shall apply to any 

8 action pending on January 1, 2002, and to any action 

9 commenced on or after that date. 

10 SEC. 4. REPORTING. 

11 In furtherance of international education relating to 

12 the Holocaust and historic and continuing anti-Semitism 

13 in Europe and throughout the world, the Secretary of 

14 State shall submit to the Congress a one-time report, out15 lining the status of access to wartime records and archives 

16 concerning the wartime activities of any railroad organized 

17 as a separate legal entity that engaged in the deportation 

18 of persons to Nazi concentration camps during the period 

19 beginning on January 1, 1942, and ending on December 

20 31, 1944. 

Æ 


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