“There was one bucket in the middle of the cattle car for 50 people,” Leo Bretholz told me. 

             Leo was sitting next to me at the witness table today.

            Seventy years ago, he was in a railroad car, heading from France to the Nazi death camps.  Leo escaped, but thousands of others did not. 

            They were transported on cars owned by the Railroad of France.  That business now owns a majority interest in a company that has bid to run the MARC train commuter line. 

             My legislation would require the company to disclose information in its records relating to the jewelry, books, family heirlooms,  and other precious property, such as Leo’s stamp collection, that it confiscated from these people.

             Leo testified that he was given a receipt when he surrendered his belongings.  The company said it had no records of anyone’s possessions.   

            Committee members had many questions, far more than the norm at a hearing in Annapolis.  They reflected a great understanding of and interest in the issues raised by my bill.  

            The chairman asked company officials, “Why don’t you make the investment that would make the information in your archives available to the people who are requesting it?”

             Two hours after the hearing began, someone asked Leo if he was tired. 

            “I’ll survive it,” he responded.

March 3