Collaborationist French Trains

During the German occupation of France, the French train company SNCF helped to transport over 75,000 Jews to German death camps. Now bidding to win a deal to build high-speed trains in California, Kathryn Hadley explains how the SNCF has been forced to fully explain its role in the Holocaust.This week, on Tuesday January 25^th, the president of the French train company SNCF (Société Nationale des Chemins de fer Français), Guillaume Pepy, and the mayor of Bobigny, Catherine Peyge, signed an agreement to work together to transform the town’s former goods train station into a memorial to Holocaust victims. In 1943 and 1944, twenty-one convoys departed from Bobigny in the north-eastern suburbs of Paris, transporting over 22,400 Jews, interned in Drancy deportation camp, to German concentration camps. On Tuesday, the SNCF officially handed over the site to the town of Bobigny and agreed to help finance the construction of a memorial.
During the Second World War, the SNCF participated in the transportation of over 75,000 Jews to German death camps. Over the past years, the company has gradually been forced to research and explain its role in the Holocaust. The SNCF has been put on trial several times. In 1996, it published a report outlining its role and responsibilities during the Holocaust; four years later, it officially opened its archives to the public. On December 13^th, 2010, the SNCF signed an agreement with the Memorial de la Shoah in Paris to support the memorial in its development of educational material and activities. In return, the memorial agreed to assist and support the SNCF in its historical research.
The SNCF made the news again at the end of 2010 as it is one of the main companies bidding to win a deal to build several high-speed trains in California. As part of the bid, the Californian state government has insisted that the SNCF agrees to fully disclose its archives relating to the Second World War and to outline a series of measures to compensate the families of the victims. In response, the SNCF recently launched a website in English which includes a section about the company’s history, notably during the Second World War.
The introduction to the ‘Heritage’ section of the website outlines how:

‘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. In this section you will find information about our earliest days, the war years, and post-war periods.’

It also explains that ‘over the years, SNCF has demonstrated its determination to shed light on the various aspects of its history during World War II. It initiated the examination of its past in a spirit of full disclosure and transparency.’
The website describes the German occupation of France as a time of ‘struggle for the French who had to fight for their very survival while often also struggling with questions of conscience.’ It explains how, in accordance with article 13 of the Armistice agreement, the SNCF was placed under the control of the German authorities; ‘the constraints imposed by the Nazi occupying forces on SNCF were horrific.’