France has agreed to pay 60 million dollars in compensation to American Holocaust victims deported by the French rail company SNCF to concentration camps during WWII.
Under the deal negotiated in Washington between France and the US, both Holocaust survivors and their spouses or descendants will receive compensation. Officials say thousands could be eligible.
The agreement will be formally signed on Monday by French Human Rights Ambassador Patricienne Sparacino-Thiellay and US Secretary of State John Kerry’s Special Advisor on the matter, Stuart Eizenstadt.
US lawmakers have previously attempted to bar SNCF from rail contracts due to its actions in WW2.
The rail company moved 76,000 Jews to Nazi camps during the Holocaust.
However, the company, and some historians, have argued that SNCF was forced to assist the deportations by the occupying German army.
In 2010, the SNCF chief executive expressed "profound sorrow and regret" for the consequences of the company's actions.
The agreement still needs to be voted on by the French parliament.
SNCF is currently bidding on US rail contracts, including in the state of Maryland, where lawmakers have pushed for reparations for survivors.