On Nov. 5, 1942, a young Jewish man named Leo Bretholz was herded into a French state-owned railway car bound for Auschwitz. Between 1942 and 1944, the Société Nationale des Chemins de fer Français transported approximately 76,000 Jews and "undesirables" to Nazi death camps. Fewer than 3 percent survived. Bretholz was lucky: He and a friend pried open bars covering their cattle car's small window and jumped. Some 60 years later, while Bretholz was living in Maryland, he learned SNCF was bidding on commuter rail deals in his state. He didn't oppose the deals. He wanted the railway to acknowledge its wartime guilt. Last December—after more than a decade of legal, legislative and diplomatic maneuvering—the French government approved a $60 million fund to compensate victims, survivors and heirs.
Apr 1, 2015 6:04 AM CDT
