I 
113TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1505 
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 depor-
tation 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, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL 11, 2013 
Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York (for herself, Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN, 
Ms. BASS, Mr. RUPPERSBERGER, Mr. CUMMINGS, Mr. RANGEL, Mr. SAR-
BANES, Mr. HOLT, Mr. PASCRELL, Ms. SCHWARTZ, Mr. CONNOLLY, Mr. 
DEUTCH, Ms. BROWN of Florida, Mr. BRADY of Pennsylvania, Mr. NAD-
LER, Mr. MORAN, Mr. CICILLINE, Mr. HASTINGS of Florida, Mr. GRI-
JALVA, Mr. KING of New York, Ms. FRANKEL of Florida, and Mr. 
WEBER of Texas) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on For-
eign Affairs, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, 
in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the juris-
diction of the committee concerned 
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, 
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and by the heirs and survivors of such persons, and 
for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Holocaust Rail Justice 
Act’’. 
SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL FINDINGS. 
Congress finds as follows: 
(1) During World War II, more than 75,000 
Jews and thousands of other persons were deported 
from France to Nazi concentration camps, on trains 
operated for profit by the Socie´te´ Nationale des Che-
mins de fer Franc¸ais (in this Act referred to as 
‘‘SNCF’’), including deportations to Auschwitz and 
Buchenwald. Numerous citizens and residents of the 
United States were among those who were on the 
trains or had relatives on the trains. United States 
servicemen who were pilots shot down over France 
were also among the persons deported on the SNCF 
trains to Nazi concentration camps. 
(2) United States citizens and others have 
sought redress against SNCF by filing a class action 
suit in the United States District Court for the 
Eastern District of New York. The named plaintiffs 
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and class members include United States Army Air 
Force pilots and United States citizens. 
(3) The complaint filed alleges that SNCF, a 
separate corporate entity that remained independent 
during World War II, operated the deportation 
trains for a profit, as ordinary commercial trans-
actions. SNCF remained under French civilian con-
trol throughout World War II and is alleged to have 
collaborated willingly with the German Nazi regime. 
(4) The complaint alleges that SNCF provided 
the necessary rolling stock, scheduled the depar-
tures, and supplied the employees to operate the 
trains bound for the concentration camps. SNCF al-
legedly charged an ordinary passenger coach fare for 
the deportations, calculated per person and per kilo-
meter, and considered these trains as ordinary com-
mercial activities. The plaintiffs further contend that 
SNCF herded as many people as possible into each 
car, requiring passengers of all ages and sexes, in-
cluding the elderly and young children, to stand 
throughout the trip of several days’ duration, with 
no provision for food or water and no sanitary facili-
ties. The complaint further alleges that SNCF 
cleaned the trains after each trip, removing the 
corpses of persons who perished during transit due 
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to the execrable conditions of the train cars. The 
destination was in each case a camp in which the de-
portees were to be exterminated, worked to death, or 
made to suffer terrible and inhuman conditions. 
(5) The complaint contends that SNCF’s ac-
tions violated the Principles of the Nuremberg Tri-
bunal, 1950, relating to crimes under international 
law (earlier recognized by the Martens Clause of the 
Hague Convention IV of 1907), and aided and abet-
ted the commission of war crimes and crimes against 
humanity. SNCF has not denied its actions and has 
never disgorged the money that it was paid for the 
deportations or otherwise compensated the deportees 
or their heirs. 
(6) SNCF’s records concerning the deportation 
trains have not been made available to the plaintiffs, 
and SNCF archives concerning its wartime activities 
are not accessible to the general public. 
(7) SNCF moved to dismiss the lawsuit on a 
claim of sovereign immunity under the foreign sov-
ereign immunities provisions of title 28, United 
States Code (28 U.S.C. 1330 and 1602 et seq.), 
even though it is one of the 500 largest corporations 
in the world, earns hundreds of millions of dollars 
from its commercial activities in the United States, 
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