The Dutch state railway company is to pay compensation to Holocaust survivors and their families, after accusations that it earned millions transporting Jewish people on the way to death camps.

In a statement on Tuesday, the state-owned NS, admitted that it “cannot look away” from its past, “a dark chapter in the history of our country and our company.”

Holocaust survivor Salo Muller, whose parents were arrested and transported to the transit camp of Westerbork, and then on to Auschwitz, has accused the NS of making millions from the occupying German forces in World War Two.

The former physiotherapist for Ajax football team, who was five when his parents were taken away and murdered in 1942, had threatened to sue the NS for compensation.

It has been widely reported in the Dutch media that the business earned about €2.5m from these transports.

“The Nazis stole Jewish people’s gold, and used this to pay the NS,” Mr Muller told The Volkskrant. “The NS knew this, and accepted it for all of those people in cattle cars. And in the 75 years since, it has done nothing to recompense that on an individual level. I believe that is unacceptable.

“It recognised at the time that this was completely wrong but has not done enough to alleviate the suffering.”