France's $60 Million Holocaust Fund Is 'Bittersweet,' Daughter Says
France's railroad agrees to create $60 million fund for Holocaust victims.
— -- Rosette Goldstein’s father was one of 76,000 European Jews transported to Nazi concentration camps via France’s state rail company SNCF.
“He was on convoy number 64 that took him to Auschwitz. From Auschwitz he was taken to Buchenwald. And they murdered him five days before liberation,” she told ABC.
Now almost 70 years later, Goldstein, 76, is part of a $60 million agreement between the United States, France and SNCF, to compensate French-born survivors and those who, in Rosette’s words, have “stepped into the shoes” of deceased parents.
Goldstein, who was born in France but now lives in Florida, says the deal is “bittersweet” because she and others have been working to make it a reality for 10 years, in which time some survivors and family members have already passed away.
But, she added, speaking to ABC after a signing ceremony at the State Department, she’s glad to see some resolution come out of her personal tragedy.
“The one thing that is good about this is that I feel that SNCF and France have admitted their guilt. Especially SNCF. They made money during the war per head and per kilometer,” she said.
The United States will manage the $60 million fund and is expected to pay out about $100,000 to each survivor and tens of thousands of dollars to surviving spouses or heirs.
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