THE GAZETTE
Page A-8
Wednesday, February 12, 2014 s
Records differ on French rail company’s role in Holocaust BY
KATE S. ALEXANDER STAFF WRITER
The affiliate of a company seeking to operate the Purple Line says it was not paid to transport Jews to concentration camps during the Holocaust, despite records that show it asked for money. Keolis America — a U.S. affiliate of French rail company Nationale des Chemins de Fer Français, or SNCF — is part of a consortium bidding for the 35-year, $6 billion public-private partnership contract to operate the Purple Line. The Purple Line is a 16-mile light rail line that would connect Bethesda and New Carrollton. A bill in the General Assembly would require companies with
direct involvement in the Holocaust or their affiliates to disclose their involvement and pay reparations to surviving victims and their families to be eligible for a publicprivate partnership in Maryland. According to an online petition by Leo Bretholz, a Maryland man who survived the Holocaust, SNCF was paid per head and per kilometer during World War II to deport about 76,000 Jews and others toward Nazi death camps. However, Jerry Ray, a spokesman for SNCF’s American operations in Rockville, said SNCF was not paid to transport Jews. The company, he said, was “conscripted” into transporting Jews toward Nazi extermination or death camps under German oc-
cupation. Ray declined to define what he meant by conscripted, which is a term usually meant to signify a draft, or forced service in the armed forces. Rafi Prober, pro bono counsel to the Coalition for Holocaust Rail Justice, said in a statement provided Friday by Prism Public Affairs that SNCF is trying to “parse its role in one of the most sordid chapters in world history.” “If this is their way of defending their monstrous behavior, it is shameful,” Prober said. Thecoalitionsaysitcomprises “victims and their family members, historians, community leaders, and volunteers committed to holding SNCF accountable.”
On its website, the coalition provides a copy of a bill, in French, supposedly sent from SNCF to the French government seeking payment with interest for transportation of “interned or expelled persons” in 1944. An English translation of the bill is posted, too. In 2006, French government Commissioner Jean-Christophe Truilhé said that evidence indicated that SNCF willingly transported Jews during the Holocaust. In an advisory opinion in a case over the transports before the Administrative Court of Toulouse, Truilhé said SNCF’s independence from German coercion when it came to trans-
porting Jews toward the camps was “particularly clear,” according to an English translation posted online in a law journal. Truilhé said the transfers, in cattle cars, were “billed to the Ministry of the Interior of the government of the so-called French State at the rate of a third-class ticket for a seat per person.” Ray did not respond to requests to comment on the records showing his company seeking payments. Ray said the company is analyzing whether the Maryland bill is discriminatory and designed to single out the company at the exclusion of others. A 2011 bill related to which
Pro-Purple Line group wants to put brakes on hiring law firm Chevy Chase Town Council expected to vote Wednesday n
BY
ELIZABETH WAIBEL STAFF WRITER
The Action Committee for Transit wants the town of Chevy Chase to hold another public hearing before deciding whether to hire a law firm to oppose some elements of the Purple Line, the
$2.2 billion light rail project the group supports. The Town Council is scheduled to vote Wednesday on whether to “engage a law firm and/or lobbying firm to assist in responding to the proposed Purple Line project,” according to an agenda for the meeting. The council is expected to consider whether to give a law firm an 18-month, $360,000 contract to oppose some aspects of the Purple Line, such as light rail tracks planned to run behind
somehousesinthetown,TheGazette reported last month. The town has been working with the law firm Buchanan, Ingersoll & Rooney for two months, but also is looking at Dickstein and Shapiro, another law firm, for the contract. The pro-Purple Line group wants the town to hold another public hearing before deciding, according to a news release from the organization. Residents learned that the firm would be participating in lobbying activi-
ties only after a Jan. 8 public hearing, the release said. The group recently filed a public information request for the contract, invoices and correspondence between the town and Buchanan, Ingersoll & Rooney. Ben Ross, a nonvoting board member and former president of the Action Committee for Transit, said the group wants to determine whether the law firm is lobbying Congress on behalf of the town, The Gazette reported. The group says it also has
filed an Open Meetings Act complaint related to the town’s hiring of the law firm. The Town Council is scheduled to meet in closed session at the start of Wednesday’s meeting to discuss potential Purple Line litigation, an open meetings act complaint and a Public Information Act request. The council is scheduled to meet in open session beginning at 7 p.m. Wednesday. ewaibel@gazette.net
companies may be awarded a MARC contract was similarly drafted to apply to Keolis. That bill passed. Del. Kirill Reznik, who filed the recent bill, said it deliberately is specific to the Holocaust. “We want to make sure that, at least with this bill, we deal with the information we have presently,” said Reznik (D-Dist. 39) of Germantown. As for other atrocities and the companies that might have had direct involvement, Reznik said he would look at other issues and similar legislation. kalexander@gazette.net
Holy Cross leases in old Choice Hotels building BY SONNY GOLDREICH SPECIAL TO THE GAZETTE
Holy Cross Health of Silver Spring has signed a 54,449-square-foot lease at the Colesville Business Park in northern Silver Spring. It will fill space left vacant six months ago when Choice Hotels International moved its headquarters to Rockville, according to CBRE, which brokered the deal for landlord American Realty Capital Properties. The building, at 10720 Columbia Pike, sits in the U.S. 29 corridor near the Intercounty Connector interchange. The 230,000-square-foot business park was hard hit last year, when Choice gave up about 192,000 square feet to move to its new 138,000-square-foot home next to the Rockville Metro station. About $10 million in renovations has fueled interest in the Colesville complex, which offers an “opportunity for corporate branding,” CBRE Vice President Andy Cole said in a news release. Built from 1971 to 1986, the business park offers some of the largest blocks of contiguous office space in the area. Its renovation program includes a new state-of-the-art conference center and full-service cafe. Holy Cross, which will house administrative functions in the new space, will absorb about 25 percent of the property. The remaining two available buildings have about 163,000 square feet. Cole and CBRE’s Larry Thau represented the property owners, a subsidiary of American Realty Capital Properties.
Citron apartments win ‘living’ award
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The new Citron garden apartments in downtown Silver Spring won the Best In American Living Award from National Association of Homebuilders, according to project architect SK+I of Bethesda. The 222-unit Citron complex, at 815 Pershing Drive, was completed last year by developer Foulger-Pratt Cos. of Rockville. The homebuilders group honored the five-level project in the category of five or more stories. The four-building Citron is pulled back from the corner of Cedar Street and Ellsworth Drive, creating a small public plaza and a gateway leading into downtown. The complex offers a mix of unit types, including some ground-level apartments that have direct access to the street from a series of stoops. Mezzanine lofts on the upper floors offer views of downtown Silver Spring and interior units overlook an interior courtyard that includes a fountain and outdoor fireplace. The Citron won silver certification last year from the U.S. Green Building Council. Among its features is an electric vehicle charging station. The $30 million project includes 31 affordable housing units.