Seven decades after being sent to Nazi concentration camps , survivors of the Holocaust will have the chance to get retribution -- from the government of France . France signed an agreement Monday with U.S. authorities to pay $ 60 million to Holocaust survivors transported to concentration camps , said Arnaud Guillois , a spokesman for the French Embassy in Washington . Patrizianna Sparacino-Thiellay , France 's ambassador at large for human rights in charge of Holocaust issues , said Monday the agreement `` is a further contribution to recognizing France 's commitment to facing up to its historic responsibilities . `` The reparation programs set up immediately after the war , and those introduced in the past fifteen years , are the tangible symbol of the official acknowledgment in 1995 of France 's 'imprescriptible debt ' towards the victims of the Holocaust , '' Sparacino-Thiellay said . A joint statement from France 's Foreign Affairs Ministry and the U.S. State Department noted that the accord shows the close relationship between the two countries . `` In this year marked by the commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the Allied landings in Normandy and Provence , this agreement further strengthens the historic friendship and ties between our two countries , '' the statement said . U.S. officials created the fund and will administer it . But Americans are n't the only ones eligible for compensation ; victims living in nations that have n't signed Holocaust compensation agreements also can benefit , according to the embassy spokesman . A few thousand people may be eligible for some of the fund , according to Guillois . This fund had been years in the making , and had come under intense pressure inside the United States , including efforts by American lawmakers to bar the SNCF , the French national railway , from bidding in U.S. markets until the issue is resolved . One piece of proposed legislation , the Holocaust Rail Justice Act , stated that more than 75,000 Jews and thousands of others were moved from France to Nazi concentration camps on SNCF trains . Those transported included U.S. citizens and their relatives , as well as American military pilots shot down during the war . An official at France 's national railway declined to comment on the agreement when reached by CNN . Yet Guillois explained that the SNCF was not considered liable for the deportation of Jews in France , because it was commissioned by France 's Vichy government -- which was formed after the armistice and collaborated with the Nazis -- to do so . This is n't the first time that France , which was invaded by Nazi Germany in 1940 before reaching an armistice agreement with Adolf Hitler 's government later that year , has borne some responsibility for the Holocaust . As Guillois noted , this latest agreement is one of several mechanisms by the French government to compensate Holocaust victims since 1946 , the year after World War II ended . The Nazis systematically killed more than 6 million Jews during the Holocaust , along with millions of other people who were religious and ethnic minorities , political dissidents , homosexuals or disabled , in death camps situated primarily in Germany and Eastern Europe .
Embassy spokesman : France signed an agreement with U.S. authorities on Monday . $ 60 million set aside for those deported to concentration camps on France 's railway . More than 6 million Jews died during the Holocaust .