A bill to ensure that the courts of the United States may provide an impartial forum for claims brought by United States citizens and others against any railroad organized as a separate legal entity, arising from the deportation of United States citizens and others to Nazi concentration camps on trains owned or operated by such railroad, and by the heirs and survivors of such persons.

        [Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Printing Office]
[S. 28 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

111th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 28

To ensure that the courts of the United States may provide an impartial
forum for claims brought by United States citizens and others against
any railroad organized as a separate legal entity, arising from the
deportation of United States citizens and others to Nazi concentration
camps on trains owned or operated by such railroad, and by the heirs
and survivors of such persons.

_______________________________________________________________________

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

January 7, 2009

Mr. Schumer introduced the following bill; which was read twice and
referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

A BILL

To ensure that the courts of the United States may provide an impartial
forum for claims brought by United States citizens and others against
any railroad organized as a separate legal entity, arising from the
deportation of United States citizens and others to Nazi concentration
camps on trains owned or operated by such railroad, and by the heirs
and survivors of such persons.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. CONGRESSIONAL FINDINGS.

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
Societe Nationale des Chemins de fer Francais (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.

SEC. 2. ACCESS TO UNITED STATES COURTS FOR HOLOCAUST DEPORTEES.

(a) Jurisdiction of District Courts.--The 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 Applicable.--Sections 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 Limitation.--No 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) Applicability.--This section shall apply to any action pending
on January 1, 2002, and to any action commenced on or after that date.
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