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 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 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
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 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, 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. Subsequently,
in light of Republic of Austria v. Altmann, 541 U.S. 677 (2004), in November
2004, on remand, the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit recalled its prior
mandate and 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
limitationAn action
described in subsection (a) shall not 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.