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The rail historian Georges Ribeill of ENPC reports that following the invasion of France by Nazi Germany, the terms of the Armistice provided that all French transportation systems, "notably railroads", be turned over to the control of the German occupying forces.[1][2] The subsequent implementation orders provided that:[1]
All French railway organizations... including transmission networks, which are located on territory occupied by German troops, are at the entire and complete disposal of the German head of transports. This headperson has the right to take any measure they deem necessary depending on exploitation and traffic requirements.
Ribeill also reports that on 24 July 1940, the German head of transports notified all SNCF personnel that they would be submitted directly to the German law of war:[1][3]
You are reminded expressly that... pursuant to article 155 of the German Military Justice code... all managers, agents and laborers of the SNCF are subject as such to German military laws. [These] laws are very harsh, leading [those who fail to follow order or communicate with the enemy, even unwittingly] to be in almost all instances condemned to death or to forced labor up to lifetime.
Subsequently, as the Moselle and Alsace were de facto annexed by Germany, the SNCF network there became part of the Reichsbahn.[4] In the rest of occupied France, the SNCF came under the Wehrmacht's transportation organ, the WVD (Wehrmachtverkehrsdirektion), with headquarters in Paris except for a section in the North and East that fell under the WVD in Brussels.[4] In June 1942, the WVD passed on responsibility for the SNCF to the HVD (Hauptverkehrsdirektion), which set up five regional directions.[4] Under both the WVD and the HVD, Reichsbahn employees were placed in major SNCF centers to ensure that the Nazi priorities were followed in running the network.[4]
Between 1941 and 1944, SNCF transported nearly 77,000 Jews and other Holocaust victims from France to Nazi death camps.[5] SNCF billed Nazi-occupied France for third-class tickets,[6] although passengers were transported in cattle cars.[7] After the liberation of France, SNCF continued to seek payment for transporting Holocaust victims to Germany.[6]
France's rail infrastructure and rolling stocks were a "prime target" for the French Resistance aimed at disrupting and fighting the German occupying forces, as they were for the Allies.[8] This allowed SNCF employees to perform many acts of resistance.[9] SNCF employee resistance efforts included the formation of the Résistance-Fer movement. Jacques Chaban-Delmas, then a general in the national Resistance, decided the creation of Résistance-Fer "at the request of managers who exerted regional responsibilities within SNCF"; also among these was the engineering manager Louis Armand, who was arrested by the Gestapo in 1944 after also becoming the leader of Résistance-Fer, and went on to become the general manager of the SNCF shortly after the war.[10] Résistance-Fer focused on reporting the movement of German troops and on sabotaging the railway's rolling stock and infrastructure.[9] Sabotage was especially effective during the liberation of France in preventing German troop deployments to the front and in hindering their retreat later.[8] Nearly 1,700 SNCF railway workers were killed or deported for resisting Nazi orders.[11][12] Ribeill reports that among these, 150 Résistance-Fer agents were shot; approximately 500 were deported, of whom approximately half died in deportation.[10]
References
edit- ^ a b c Ribeill, Georges (2002–2003). "Obstétrique de guerre: Le cas de la SNCF (1939-1945)" (PDF). Les Cahiers de Recits, Laboratoire de Recherche sur les Choix Industriels, Technologiques et Scientifiques (in French). 2. Belfort-Montbéliard: Université de Technologie Belfort-Montbéliard: 49–61. Retrieved 2012-01-09.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: date format (link) - ^ Digithèque MJP, University of Perpignan (22 June 1940), Convention d'armistice (armistice convention, article 13)
{{citation}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help); Check|author-link=value (help); External link in|author-link= - ^ SNCF Order of the Day # 35 (PDF), 24 July 1940, retrieved 2012-01-09
- ^ a b c d "Les Cheminots dans la Résistance". La Lettre de la Fondation de la Résistance. special issue. 2005.
- ^ Shaver, Katherine (7 July 2010). "Holocaust group faults VRE contract". The Washington Post. ISSN 0740-5421. Retrieved 2010-07-07.
- ^ a b Chrisafis, Angelique (7 June 2006). "French state and SNCF guilty of collusion in deporting Jews". The Guardian. London.
- ^ http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/71533,news-comment,news-politics,sncf-regrets-holocaust-role-ahead-of-florida-rail-bid
- ^ a b Christofferson, Thomas; Christofferson, Michael (2006). France during World War II: From Defeat to Liberation. New York: Fordham University Press. ISBN 978-0-8232-2563-7.
- ^ a b Durand, Paul (1968). La SNCF pendant la guerre, sa résistance à l'occupant. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.
- ^ a b Ribeill, Georges (2006). "Résistance-Fer, du « réseau » à l'association". Revue d’histoire des chemins de fer. 34: 53–73. Retrieved 2012-01-08.
- ^ Lombard, Marie-Amélie (2011-01-25). "Shoah : les «regrets» de la SNCF". Le Figaro. France. Retrieved 2010-01-31.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
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