
BELGIUM’S RAILWAY HOLOCAUST REPORT FALLS SHORT ON SURVIVOR REMEDIES
WJRO Calls for Concrete Action to Support Holocaust Survivors and Honor Victims of SNCB Deportations
Statement from Gideon Taylor, President, and Mark Weitzman, COO,
World Jewish Restitution Organization (WJRO)
New York, NY (January 20, 2025): “We welcome the release of the Committee’s report on the role of the National Railway Company of Belgium (SNCB) during the Holocaust, presented on January 17, 2025 to the Minister of Transportation and the Senate Committee on Institutional Affairs. This report offered an important opportunity to confront the historical injustices suffered by Holocaust survivors and their families.
While we are glad to see the report’s emphasis on education and memory, we were very disappointed that it did not recommend concrete remedies to address the needs of survivors of the train deportations. To reject compensation from the perpetrator to the victim denies the moral obligation by SNCB to those it wronged, instead it would allow the railroad to dilute and evade the necessity of taking any current action by permitting it to spread the blame widely across Belgian society. Accepting responsibility means facing and dealing directly with individual victims.
We urge the government to act quickly to ensure that the railway provides compensation to those who suffered and their heirs. The annual mortality rate for Holocaust survivors is 8-10%. This current process began on April 4, 2019 when the Belgian Parliament unanimously passed a resolution requesting the federal government to open an independent investigation into the role of SNCB. As we approach International Holocaust Remembrance Day on January 27, 2025, marking the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, it is urgent that action be taken now while the remaining survivors are still alive. Furthermore it is important that there be recognition of the many deportees who perished during the deportations or who have since passed away.
The Committee rightly emphasizes the importance of consulting ‘first and foremost the victims’ representatives,’ yet unfortunately it declined to do so. It refused to engage meaningfully with WJRO which represents Belgian Holocaust survivors living abroad and serves as the voice for the international Jewish community, including those who perished. The WJRO is supporting the Belgian Jewish community in this effort. Such consultations would have enabled the Committee to draw on a broader range of perspectives from Holocaust survivors and benefit from our expertise in restitution, fostering a more inclusive process that addresses the full scope of these injustices.
France and the Netherlands have set precedents, and Belgium has the opportunity to now take meaningful steps toward justice for survivors and their families. Failure to do so would represent a negation of the very memory that the report recommends affirming.
WJRO remains committed to ensuring that survivors receive the justice they deserve and that the memory of these atrocities continues to guide us toward a more just and inclusive future.”
A copy of the report can be found here.
Background:
On April 4, 2019, the Belgian Parliament unanimously passed a resolution requesting the federal government to open an independent investigation into the role of the National Railway Company of Belgium (NMBS/SNCB) in deporting over 25,000 Jews and more than 350 Roma on 28 convoys from Mechelen, Belgium, to extermination camps. CegeSoma began conducting a study on the SNCB in August 2022, which was presented to the Belgian Senate on December 8, 2023. On January 24, 2024, the federal government decided to set up the Committee to make recommendations on the follow-up to the conclusions of the CegeSoma Study.
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