French Railways must pay Holocaust survivors, they plan appeal

In a landmark decision, the French Government and State Railway have been found guilty yesterday of “colluding in the deportation of Jews during the second world war and ordered to pay compensation to the family of two victims.” Whil not haveing been guilty of crimes against humanity—a major setback—they were found guilty of the other charges. The French railway company charged the Nazis for the transportation of the Jews in cattle cars, and when France was liberated from the Nazis, they still were trying to collect for the payments.

In their ruling, the judges recognised the prejudice suffered by the victims and their confinement at the camp. They said their transportation amounted to an “act of negligence of the state’s responsibilities” because the state could not “obviously” ignore the fact that transportation to Drancy would normally mean subsequent removal to a Nazi death camp.

The judges found that the SNCF railway company never voiced “any objection” about transporting such prisoners. The journeys were classified as “third class tariffs” despite prisoners being transported in cattle trucks and SNCF continued to ask for payment of the bills after France was liberated from the Nazis. But the judges did not uphold the plaintiffs’ charge that the actions of the French state and SNCF amounted to crimes against humanity.

Oh, and the French Railway say there were forced to do it and they should not be held responsible. Right, Jonah Goldhagen and Christopher Browning will have a field day with that.

The lawyer for the SNCF said yesterday that the company would appeal against the ruling. He said the railway could not be held responsible for the transportation because it had been forced to cooperate with German occupying forces.

Now on to the other companies that profited and collaborated to help the German’s destroy Europen Jewish civilization. Tzedek Tzedek Tirdof.