Dutch Rail to talk to WWII resistance groups about compensation: Trouw

Part of the Westerbork monument. Photo: Blacknight via Wikimedia Commons
Part of the Westerbork monument. Photo: Blacknight via Wikimedia Commons

Dutch railway company NS is to talk to relatives of members of the resistance who were taken to concentration camps by train during World War II, Trouw said on Friday.

This summer the state-owned transport group announced details of its compensation scheme for the 100,000 Jews, Sinti and Roma who were transported to holding centres in the Netherlands such as Westerbork before being moved to concentration camps such as Auschwitz and Sobibor. T

The NS was paid €2.5m by the Germans for the transports, invoices show.

Survivors will each receive €15,000 in compensation, while family members will get a payout of between €7,500 and €5,000. Around 5,500 people were thought to qualify for the payment, including 500 camp survivors.

However, the deal was criticised at the time for not including the resistance. ‘There are still a few loose ends in the NS scheme which no-one can understand,’ Henk Mreijen told the Telegraaf.

Now NS officials have agreed to meet their representatives on October 3, Trouw said.

Thank you for donating to DutchNews.nl.

We could not provide the Dutch News service, and keep it free of charge, without the generous support of our readers. Your donations allow us to report on issues you tell us matter, and provide you with a summary of the most important Dutch news each day.

Make a donation