Belgium's national railway company made millions of dollars by deporting nearly 25.000 Jews and Roma, as well as forced laborers and resistance members, to Nazi concentration camps during World War II, according to a report.
From 1942 to 1944, the Belgian railway sent 25.843 trains carrying 28 Jews and Roma to Auschwitz; Most were killed on arrival and only 1.195 survived, according to the report compiled by a war research center affiliated with the Belgian State Archives.
The report revealed that the railway, carrying out the Nazis' orders, sent more than 16.000 political prisoners to camps and prisons such as Buchenwald. It was stated that 51 million Belgian francs were paid to the railway company for the transportation, which is equivalent to several million dollars today.
“The fact that the national railway company was responsible for the deportation of Jews, Roma and other groups of victims was something we already knew, but our knowledge was very superficial,” said the report's author and Police Chief Nico Wouters. war research center. “There has been no in-depth investigation into how or why it happened, the context or whether there was any protest. “We now have the full story.”
The report was commissioned by the Belgian Senate, the upper house of the country's parliament, in 2022. The findings were presented on December 8.
The railway, known by its French initials SNCB, was founded in 1926. It operated as a “semi-governmental” autonomous company, although its main customer was the Belgian state. During World War II, Belgium continued to operate autonomously while it was occupied by the Nazis.
The company said in a written statement: “SNCB has always been fully committed to ensuring that the role of the Belgian railways in the deportation can be clarified.” The company added that the railroad would “now note and follow up on the study,” but did not immediately say what further action might be taken.
SNCB sözcüsü Dimitri Temmerman said the company first handed historical records to the war research center in 2003, after the Senate requested an investigation into the role of Belgian authorities in the persecution of Jews during the German occupation.
The resulting report, published in 2007 and titled “La Belgique Docile,” or “Willing Belgium,” found that state institutions were more complicit in the occupying Nazis than previously thought. However, this report contained only a single section on the role of the national railway in the deportations.
Mr Wouters said the new report focused on the rail company. “We have now seen all the resources, we understand the financial considerations, and there is no longer any uncertainty or doubt about liability,” he said. “I think this could be a turning point because the facts can no longer be ignored by policymakers and the railway company itself.”
Mr. Wouters said he was working on “special trains” that operated outside Belgium's normal transport network and were used specifically for Nazi purposes. These included 28 deportation trains, as well as trains used by high-ranking Nazi officials when traveling in Belgium. The report found no evidence that Belgian railway staff protested about the trains being used for deportation.
“No one has asked the question: Should we do this, or is this morally and legally acceptable?” Mr Wouters said. “This issue was never discussed in front of the board of directors. There really is a general feeling that trains of exile are inevitable. “Nobody asks questions, no objections, no complaints.”
Belgium, II. It is one of the few Western European countries to come to terms with the role played by their national railways in the mass deportations carried out for the Nazis during World War II.
In 2011, the French state railway officially apologized to Holocaust victims for its role in the deportation of approximately 1941 European Jews to the Franco-German border in 1944 cattle cars from 76.000 to 76. They were transported across the border, mostly to Nazi camps in Germany. – the lands where they were killed.
France's apology followed years of lawsuits by American Holocaust survivors and their descendants. In 2014, France gave $60 million in compensation to the USA to be distributed to the victims and their heirs.
The Dutch national railway also acknowledged its role in driving Jews and Roma to their deaths. In 2019, he pledged to allocate tens of millions of euros in compensation to victims and their direct descendants.
Research published in 2012 found that from June 1942 to August 1944, 112 Dutch trains traveled from the Netherlands to nine Nazi camps in countries including Germany, Austria and Poland.
Gideon Taylor, president of the World Jewish Reparations Organization, which advocates for compensation for Holocaust victims, said the Belgian report was part of a larger effort by Western European governments to come to terms with a dark history.
“It is very important that this has been commissioned by Parliament,” Mr Taylor said. “This is a sign that this is an issue Belgium wants to address.”
“Trains are a very powerful symbol of the Holocaust,” he added. “Understanding what is happening to train companies gives us a perspective that goes beyond the multitude of people and facts. “This makes transparency about their roles very important.”
