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Jewish foundation sues Belgian railway company over WWII deportations
🇧🇪 Belgium /Energy & Infrastructure

Jewish foundation sues Belgian railway company over WWII deportations

From La Libre Belgique · () French

Translated from French, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Named sources In the courts
  • A Jewish foundation is suing the Belgian railway company SNCB over its role in deporting Jews during World War II.
  • The lawsuit concerns 28 convoys that transported approximately 25,000 Jews, along with Roma and Sinti people, to Auschwitz between August 1942 and July 1944.
  • The Belgian state, as a shareholder of SNCB, is also being sued.

A Jewish foundation has filed a lawsuit against the Belgian national railway company, SNCB, holding it responsible for its actions during the deportation of Jews and other minorities to Nazi extermination camps during World War II.

The legal action specifically targets the 28 convoys that departed from the Dossin barracks in Mechelen between August 1942 and July 1944. These trains predominantly carried Jewish individuals, estimated at around 25,000, as well as several hundred Roma and Sinti people. The vast majority of those deported did not survive the war, with fewer than a thousand individuals eventually surviving.

Historical research has already indicated that SNCB was compensated for its collaboration with the German occupiers during the war. As the Belgian state is a shareholder in SNCB, public authorities are also implicated and included in the lawsuit.

DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by La Libre Belgique in French. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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