During the Second World War, the Dutch rail company NS earned millions of euros transporting Jews to Westerbork, a transit camp in Drenthe, where they were held before being transported to Nazi-occupied Poland and Germany. NS now wants to pay individual compensation to survivors and relatives of those that they transported to concentration camps.
In 2005, NS publicly apologised for its role during the German occupation and has since invested in monuments, exhibitions and education about the Holocaust. NS also contributes financially to the Dutch Holocaust Names Memorial and maintains 128 monuments at or close to stations across the country.
NS calls its role in the Holocaust, “a black page in the history of our country and company. It is a past that we cannot ignore”. The rail company is now setting up a special committee, which will look into how the company can compensate those who survived or are relatives of survivors. How much compensation survivors will receive and who will be eligible is unknown.
One person delighted with the news of compensation for survivors and relatives is Salo Muller, having fought for years for such a development. Muller lost both of his parents during World War II. In 1941, they were transported by NS to Westerbork, after which they were taken to Auschwitz and murdered.
The Jewish cooperative (CJO) and the Dutch Auschwitz committee call the NS’ initiative “very good and wonderful”. Both organisations do however urge NS to hurry, as survivors are getting older and therefore increasingly fewer.