The Jewish organization Nico Gunzburg Foundation has filed a lawsuit against the NMBS/SNCB railway company and the Belgian state in Brussels, according to the newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws. The organization is seeking compensation and an acknowledgment of guilt for the deportations that took place during World War II.

Research by historian Nico Wouters shows that the NMBS/SNCB received nearly 51 million Belgian francs (equivalent, after adjusting for inflation, to nearly 15 million euros) from the German occupiers to operate the deportation trains, and that the railway management at the time had made mistakes and had been blind to the consequences of collaborating with the Nazi regime.

The last direct survivors of the Holocaust are very elderly or have already passed away, which is why some advocacy groups believe they must act now rather than wait any longer.

Blind to the consequences of its collaboration

According to historian Nico Wouters, between 1941 and 1944, 25,490 Jews were deported using Belgian rolling stock and train crews, always under strict German control.

These transports took place in 28 convoys that departed from the Dossin Barracks in Mechelen between August 1942 and July 1944. Virtually all these trains traveled directly to the Auschwitz extermination camp in Poland. After the war, only slightly more than 1,000 people returned alive.

At the request of representatives of the Jewish community and of the NMBS/SNCB itself, the Senate and the federal government commissioned the CegeSoma research center in January 2022 to conduct a scientific investigation into the NMBS/SNCB’s role in train transports and deportations during World War II.

That study, led by Nico Wouters, was presented in December 2023 and effectively demonstrated that the NMBS/SNCB, then led by Narcisse Rulot, was paid for these operations by the German occupying forces and that the railway management at the time had made mistakes and had been blind to the consequences of its collaboration with the Nazi regime.

‘No financial compensation necessary’

Based on that report, a ‘Group of Sages’ drew up recommendations. The group deemed an apology necessary for recognition, but did not consider financial compensation necessary, as it would no longer serve any purpose 80 years after the events.

In April 2025, the NMBS/SNCB announced that it would indeed offer an official apology, together with infrastructure manager Infrabel and HR Rail.

But the Nico Gunzburg Foundation is no longer willing to accept this and is now filing a lawsuit, since the Belgian government is a shareholder of NMBS/SNCB and is also involved in the lawsuit.

In its analysis of the report, the Foundation also argued that it is legally untenable to acknowledge contributory negligence on the one hand while refusing to award damages on the other – according to them, negligence implies liability, and it even accuses the Group of Sages of making a politically motivated attempt to shield the NMBS/SNCB and the Belgian state from legal and moral liability in ongoing lawsuits.

The Netherlands and France as examples

According to Het Laatste Nieuws, discussions have already taken place with the NMBS/SNCB and the government, but no results have been achieved so far. As soon as the Belgian government and the NMBS/SNCB are once again willing to sit down at the table and discuss compensation, the entire process could be halted once more.

The Nico Gunzburg Foundation also points out that, in addition to the Netherlands, compensation has already been paid in France to people who survived the extermination camps or to their surviving relatives.

In 2019, a special commission ruled that the Dutch Railways (NS) must compensate Holocaust survivors, and some 5,000 to 6,000 people received reparations ranging from 5,000 to 10,000 euros – the result of a years-long legal battle waged by Salo Muller, whose parents were murdered in Auschwitz.

The French railway company SNCF deported approximately 76,000 Jews to concentration camps during the war. Since the end of the war, France had already paid out billions of euros in compensation, but only to French citizens – Holocaust survivors who had emigrated abroad were left out.

It wasn’t until 2014, after years of lawsuits against SNCF in the US, that an agreement was reached. France contributed the equivalent of more than 48 million euros to a fund administered by the US government, which was available not only to Americans but also to Israelis and other foreign victims.