Washington – The Supreme Court won’t let France’s state-run railroad be sued in the United States by the descendants of Jews deported by train during World War II when France was occupied by Nazis.
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The French national rail network, known as SNCF, hauled 76,000 French and other European Jews to Germany, where they were sent on to death camps. Fewer than 3,000 returned alive.
U.S. courts have thrown out lawsuits demanding France’s state railway network compensate the families of the deportees, saying the cases case do not fall within their jurisdiction. The Supreme Court on Monday also refused to hear a similar lawsuit.
This is the right decision. These matters have already been adjudicated in other forum and if allowed to go forward, this lawsuit would have effectively denied American states and cities the opportunity of contracting with one of the world’s top rail management firms that had nothing to do with the shoah but were acquired later by the French railway system. The employess of this firm are almost all U.S. citizens and this would result in higher transit costs and loss of jobs. While the tragedy of the French jews who were niftar in the Shoah should not be minimized, a line has to be drawn somewhere on how and when compensation is to be paid and by whom. Today, the court drew the line.
The truly sad thing about this is that our legal system is so out of whack that someone thought a US court would be the appropriate place for this claim.