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France court rules government responsible for deporting Jews in WWII

By Bernard Hibbitts (editor) and University of Pittsburgh School of Law students.

[JURIST] The French Council of State, France's highest court, ruled Monday that the French government bore responsibility for deporting Jews during World War II, while denying further reparations for individuals. The council was asked by the Paris administrative court to issue an advisory opinion in the case of a Holocaust victim's daughter who was seeking reparations. In its ruling, the council indicated that the government had already "taken a series of measures, such as pensions, allowances, aids or remedies" to provide compensation and characterized the measures as comparable to those taken by other European states. The council also called for "the solemn recognition of the collective losses suffered by these individuals and the role played by the state in their deportation." This is the most formal recognition by the French government of its role in the Holocaust, although former President Jacques Chirac acknowledged in 1995 that the French government bore some responsibility. In 2006, a French trial court ordered the French government and the state-controlled railway SNCF to pay 60,000 euros, or about $80,000 US, in compensation to a Jewish family for complicity in crimes against humanity for deporting them during World War II. Monday's ruling will estop similar claims in the future.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on February 16, 2009 (boomark / email).