2023-12-12 10:15:08
SS men taking the train from Dresden, Germany, to Belgium during World War II. ALAMY STOCK PHOTO
From August 1942, the Belgian National Railway Company (SNCB) received money paid by the Nazi regime to transport 25,490 Jews as well as 353 Roma and Gypsies to the extermination camps, including 1,195 only survived. The public company also transferred 16,081 political prisoners and transported, to Germany, some 190,000 people requisitioned as part of the compulsory labor service.
At the end of an investigation launched in 2022 and financed by the Senate and the federal minister of mobility, a historian, Nico Wouters, was able to find account books showing that the company had received 50.2 million Belgian francs, paid by Germany. The rate set was 4 pfennigs per person transported and per kilometer traveled.
The role of the SNCB in the deportations was known, as, in neighboring countries, that of the SNCF and the Dutch railways. In 2012, the administrator of the Belgian company mentioned a “black page” of the history of public enterprise. However, the fact that she had invoiced the Nazi occupier for her services had never been demonstrated.
approximately 21 million euros
“50.2 million is a lot and not much, it remains marginal compared to the cost of rail services and war damages, but the main thing is that this study made it possible to discover that the SNCB was paid for these convoys »explained Mr. Wouters, director of the Center for the Study of War and Society, in the daily The eveningDecember 9.
According to a series of experts, it is difficult to accurately convert the 50.2 million Belgian francs into current currency, but it can be estimated at 21 million euros. The management of the railway company declared, at the end of the war, that the Occupation had cost it a total of 4.92 billion francs at the time, including more than six tenths for regular transport ordered by the German authorities.
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No agreement has ever been concluded between SNCB and the occupying forces. The company’s management simply felt they had to obey orders, including when it came to deportations. It only opposed the integration of its staff into the compulsory labor service in Germany. On the other hand, it agreed to transport military equipment, which Belgian legislation equated to economic collaboration, which was in principle prohibited.
The room for maneuver of the company’s managers was obviously very narrow, but at no time did the general director, Narcisse Rulot, attempt to oppose the German authorities. Belgian officials advocated, it is true, a so-called policy of “lesser evil” : developed and implemented by a banker, Alexandre Galopin, its objective was to provide industrial goods to Germany in exchange for foodstuffs. With the exception – in principle – of arms and ammunition, everything might be delivered to Germany.
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