France Agrees to Compensate Holocaust Deportees in US

FILE - French President Francois Hollande walks back from a train car symbolizing the Drancy concentration camp outside Paris, during the inauguration of the Shoah memorial in Drancy, Sept. 21, 2012.

France says it will compensate Holocaust survivors in the United States who were transported by France's state rail company to Nazi death camps.

The French Foreign Ministry said Friday that it would put $60 million into a compensation fund that the United States will manage.

As part of the agreement, the U.S. government said it would work to end lawsuits and other compensation claims in U.S. courts against the French rail company, SNCF.

The rail line is bidding on high-speed rail contracts in the United States, but it has faced opposition from some state legislators because of its Holocaust-era actions.

SNCF transported about 76,000 French Jews during World War II to Nazi concentration camps, where most died.

U.S. officials said survivors of the deportation who are living in the United States would receive $100,000 each, while spouses would receive payment of tens of thousands of dollars.

Officials said the compensation fund would also be open to people of other countries, expect for those from nations that already have a bilateral agreement with France.