Holocaust survivor Rosette Goldstein and attorney Raphael (Rafi) Prober were guests at an event held in Los Angeles titled “Journey to Justice.” This is likely to also be the name of a Hollywood film that will chronicle the incredible story of the Akin Gump law firm. Goldstein and Holocaust survivor Leo Bretholz worked together to hold Société Nationale des Chemins de fer Français (SNCF), France’s national railway company, accountable for transporting 76,000 Jews and thousands of others to German death camps.
“Everyone says it should be a movie,” said Prober, in an interview with The Journal. “And there are some conversations about making it one.”
During the Second World War, the assets of SNCF were requisitioned by the occupying German forces and used to transport victims to concentration camps in France and Germany. Though it was forced to collaborate, SNCF sought compensation from Germany and France both before and after liberation, charging third-class tickets for those transported in cattle cars.
In the over 70 years since SNCF ran its first deportation train, SNCF has never been held accountable or provided reparations to its victims, many of whom now reside in the United States. For over 10 years, hundreds of survivors and family members of those who perished attempted to hold SNCF accountable for its active role in the Holocaust.
Akin Gump invested 5,000 hours of pro bono work to seek justice for those Holocaust survivors. In December 2014, an agreement was reached with SNCF to pay $60 million in compensation to Holocaust survivors in the United States, equating to approximately $100,000 per survivor.
“We represented hundreds of survivors,” said Prober. “Out of the 76,000, only 2,000 survived, and of those, most were very elderly; only the very young managed to survive.”
“We represented hundreds of survivors.” – Raphael Prober
One of the survivors the firm represented was Leo Bretholz, who wrote a book called “Leap Into Darkness.” Bretholz escaped from the train along with his friend Manfred Silberwasser by bending the bars on one of the cattle cars. He jumped out from the moving train and evaded capture throughout Europe for the next four years until he left on a ship for New York in 1947. He eventually settled in Baltimore. “He was the lead person we represented,” said Prober. “He testified in two congressional hearings and was really the face of the campaign for justice. Rosette, Leo and I were inseparable.” After Bretholz passed away at 93 years old, Goldstein stepped in as the primary survivor leading the effort to reach a resolution.
Goldstein was born in Paris in 1938 to Polish parents. During the war, her father gave her to the Martin family, who lived on a farm. “They asked him to let them think about it and then came back and said, ‘We have three daughters, and now we have four,’” said Goldstein, who would later have them recognized as Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem.
Her mother stayed in the apartment building where they used to live, hiding in plain sight, while her father worked as a tree cutter for the Germans.
“Things were getting worse because France was collaborating with Germany,” said Goldstein. “Food was scarce, Jews weren’t allowed to shop until certain hours, and of course, by the time they went to shop, there was nothing left.”
Her father was able to visit her in the evenings, until one night, he stopped coming. “Monsieur Martin came over and said, ‘they took them.’ As little as I was, I knew what that meant. I realized then that I probably would never see my dad again.”
Most of her father’s family perished in the war. She was seven years old when her mother came back for her.
“I hadn’t seen her at that point for two and a half to three years, but I still remembered her,” Goldstein said. “It was hard for her to keep me with her, so I went to a Jewish camp and then she asked the Martins to take me back, which they did.” She stayed with them until she was sent to live with her aunt in the U.S. in 1949.
“I went aboard the Queen Elizabeth ship all alone – my mother didn’t get a visa yet – and all I remember is that I was sick for five days. A week after arriving at my aunt’s house, she sent me to school. I didn’t speak a word of English and when I did, I had a heavy French accent, which I worked hard to get rid of.”
For years she tried to put the horrors of the war behind her. She got married, raised children and lived her life in peace until she met a group of Holocaust survivors in Boca Raton, Florida. “Their stories were different, but in a way, the same as mine,” she said. “We all started talking in schools and haven’t stopped. It was very important for us because there are so few of us left. I’m one of the youngest.”
Rosette met Prober 15 years ago. She heard about the efforts of SNCF to bid on a project for a high-speed rail line in Maryland and was horrified. This was the same company that sent her dad and so many other Jews to their deaths.
“I heard they were going to bid on a high-speed rail in Florida,” she recalled. “So, my husband and I drove to the meeting where they were supposed to put on bids. I was the only survivor there.”
There was a big media presence, and Goldstein made sure to talk to all of them and made big headlines.
“We were asked to write a note on why we object to the SNCF bid, and I wrote that I felt the French railroad should not be accepted because of what they did in the Shoah. Following that, Governor [Charlie] Crist said that European companies bidding, would have to admit to what they had done during World War II,” said Goldstein.
According to Goldstein, the SNCF then gave the Board of Education in Florida $80,000 with the condition to have the Holocaust curriculum changed. She felt that they were trying to portray themselves in a better light.
“When I heard about it, I went to one of the meetings and complained about it and also wrote to the head of the education department in Tallahassee,” said Goldstein. “I didn’t think that the taxes of survivors in Florida should be going to teach the Holocaust by the French SNCF. I knew they were going to lie about what happened. I didn’t want my grandchildren to learn a lie.”
After some pressure, the funds were returned to SNCF, and their offer was declined.
It took many years and efforts to get the SNCF to admit wrongdoing and pay the survivors $60 million. Some of the survivors were living in poverty, and those funds were a godsend, said Prober.
At times there were 40 to 50 people in his law firm working on this case. He estimates they put in more than 5,000 lawyer hours in total. There were years when he spent more than half of his time on this case. “I don’t think we realized how big this case was going to be,” said Prober. “But even if we knew, we still would have done it. It’s one of the cases the firm is most proud of. It was such an important one for such important clients. It was sort of a singular moment in time, and it was an honor, honestly.”
Bretholz was supposed to speak in front of Congress and voice his objection to SNCF building the railroad when he passed away in 2014, months before their big victory. “Rafi called me and said ‘Leo passed away, what are we going to do?’” Goldstein said. “I said, ‘You know what? Book me a flight. We can’t let it go because Leo would be very upset. I’ll be there tomorrow morning.’ I ended up testifying in front of Congress.”
Goldstein’s one regret is that her friend Bretholz didn’t get to see their accomplishment, whom she said reminded her of her father. “He used to call me sometimes in the evenings and we would say, ‘Do you think anything will really come of this?’ and we both used to say, ‘I don’t think so, but we are showing the world the truth, what had really happened.”
A five-part podcast on this story, “Covering their Tracks,” by documentarian Matthew Slutsky, is available on tabletmag.com/podcasts/covering-their-tracks
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