SNCF regret over Holocaust trains
Firm expresses 'profound sorrow and regret' about wartime role as it bids for lucrative US contracts
THE SNCF has publicly expressed regret for the first time for its role in transporting Jews to the Nazi concentration camps in the Second World War.
The state-run French rail operator has set up an English-language website explaining its work during the Occupation, as the firm attempts to defend its reputation while it is bidding for two lucrative US rail contracts.
The SNCF is hoping to win tenders to build high-speed rail links in California and Florida. Some US lawmakers attempted to block the company unless it came clean about its role in the war.
France saw its train system requisitioned by the Nazis and used to deport 75,000 Jews and Resistance fighters. Nearly 800 SNCF workers were executed by Nazi firing squads for resisting orders and 1,200 SNCF workers were deported to Nazi death camps for sabotage and other acts of defiance.
SNCF chief executive Guillaume Pépy has now issued a statement expressing "profound sorrow and regret" about the firm's involvement in the deportations.
The new English-language site says: "Because we are new to America, many people are not yet familiar with SNCF. It is understandable that they may have questions about us and our history.
"In particular, questions have been raised recently about the company during the World War II era, when Nazi Germany invaded and occupied France."
It added: "SNCF has been unsparing in its self-examination of World War II activities."
The company commissioned research in the 1990s by an independent historian into its war-time history. The 914-page report is now being translated into English.
