Center official says that action from the French national railway can spur Japanese companies to take similar action for their part inatrocities against American, Chinese and other victims.
The Simon Wiesenthal Center expressed support for a joint agreement between the governments of France and the U.S. that will provide $60million in compensation from France to Holocaust survivors and the families of victims of the Holocaust deported from France to Nazi concentration camps during WWII. The fund, subject to a 2015vote in the French Parliament, transfers $60 million from France that will be administered by the U.S. State Department. Those eligible for compensation include people living in the United Statesand Israel as well as others whose families were among the 75,000 Jews deported by Vichy France. 
In a signing ceremony at the US State Department Treaty Room last week, Stuart Eizenstat, Special Advisor to the Secretary of State forHolocaust Issues and the American representative in the negotiations, quoted Elie Wiesel saying, “’This is not really about money. In a deeper sense, it’s about something infinitely moreimportant and more meaningful. It is about the ethical value and weight of memory.’” Patrizianna Sparacino-Thiellay, who represented France as the Ambassador-at-Large for Human Rights in chargeof the Holocaust, also said, “This agreement is a further contribution to recognizing France’s commitment in facing up its historic responsibilities…. It is also a great honor to contributethrough this agreement in an attempt to a measure of justice, in an attempt, of course, not to repair the irreparable, but to offer material support to the Holocaust survivors.”
Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Wiesenthal Center, who attended the ceremony said, “We note that by agreeing to establish thisfund, the French government confirms the historic and moral responsibilities linked to the Nazi Holocaust and WWII Vichy authorities that cannot be erased by time.” Cooper also noted that SNCF,whose trains were used to deport Jews from France enroute to Auschwitz and other Nazi concentration camps, has again expressed regret for those actions and increased its financial commitment toHolocaust education in France, Israel, and the US. “SNCF has also opened its internal documents from WWII era for scrutiny and use of scholars. One can only hope that SNCF's actions will spurJapanese companies, who have refused to even apologize for their part in atrocities against American, Chinese, and other prisoners-of-war during WWII, to finally take action while some survivingex-POWs are still alive,” he concluded.
Rabbi Cooper (R) pictured with Ambassador Sparacino-Thiellay at the signing ceremony.
Photo courtesy Simon Wiesenthal Center
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The Simon Wiesenthal Center is one of the largest international Jewish human rightsorganizations with over 400,000 member families in the United States. It is an NGO at international agencies including the United Nations, UNESCO, the OSCE, the OAS, the Council of Europe and theLatin American Parliament (Parlatino).
