1.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
Société Nationale des Chemins de fer Français (in this Act referred to as
SNCF
), including deportations to Auschwitz and Buchenwald.
Numerous citizens and residents of the United States were among those 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 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 which remained independent
during World War II, operated the deportation trains for a profit, as ordinary
commercial transactions. SNCF remained under French civilian control 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
departures, and supplied the employees to operate the trains bound for the
concentration camps. SNCF allegedly charged an ordinary passenger coach fare
for the deportations, calculated per person and per kilometer, and considered
these trains as ordinary commercial activities. The plaintiffs further contend
that SNCF herded as many people as possible into each car, requiring passengers
of all ages and sexes, including the elderly and young children, to stand
throughout the trip of several days’ duration, with no provision for food or
water and no sanitary facilities. The complaint further alleges that SNCF
cleaned the trains after each trip, removing the corpses of persons who
perished during transit due to the execrable conditions of the train cars. The
destination was in each case a camp in which the deportees were to be
exterminated, worked to death, or made to suffer terrible and inhuman
conditions.
(5)The complaint
contends that SNCF’s actions violated the Principles of the Nuremberg Tribunal,
1950, relating to crimes under international law (earlier recognized by the
Martens Clause of the Hague Convention IV of 1907), and aided and abetted 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 remain closed
to the general public.
(7)SNCF moved to dismiss the lawsuit on a
claim of sovereign immunity under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act of 1976
(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, and is not accorded sovereign
immunity under the laws of France. SNCF’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit was
granted by the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New
York. Plaintiffs appealed the decision, their appeal was granted, and the case
was remanded for further proceedings. In November 2004, on remand, the Court of
Appeals for the Second Circuit determined that SNCF was entitled to immunity
and affirmed the dismissal of the complaint. The Second Circuit stated that
the railroad’s conduct at the time lives on in infamy
but
concluded that the evil actions of the French national railroad’s former
private masters in knowingly transporting thousands to death camps during World
War II are not susceptible to legal redress in Federal court
today.
.
(8)This lawsuit,
which arises from the unique historical facts of the deportation of persons to
Nazi concentration camps, presents issues of substantial importance to citizens
and veterans of the United States. Many of those who have sought redress
against SNCF are elderly and would have difficulty traveling outside the United
States in order to pursue their claims elsewhere. The courts of the United
States are and should be a proper forum for this lawsuit. The Foreign Sovereign
Immunities Act of 1976, which had not been enacted at the time of SNCF’s
actions during World War II, was not intended to bar suit against the
SNCF.
2.Access to United
States courts for holocaust deportees
(a)Jurisdiction of
district courtsThe United States district courts shall have
original jurisdiction, without regard to the amount in controversy, of any
civil action for damages for personal injury or death that—
(1)arose from the
deportation of persons to Nazi concentration camps during the period beginning
on January 1, 1942, and ending on December 31, 1944; and
(2)is brought by any
such person, or any heir or survivor of such person, against a railroad
that—
(A)owned or operated
the trains on which the persons were so deported; and
(B)was organized as a
separate legal entity at the time of the deportation, whether or not any of the
equity interest in the railroad was owned by a foreign state.
(b)Other laws not
applicableSections 1330 and 1601 through 1611 of title 28,
United States Code, or any other law limiting the jurisdiction of the United
States courts, whether by statute or under common law, shall not preclude any
action under subsection (a).
(c)Inapplicability
of statutes of limitationNo action described in subsection (a)
shall be barred by a defense that the time for bringing such action has expired
under a statute of limitations.
(d)This
section shall apply to any action pending on January 1, 2002, and to any action
commenced on or after that date.