France Is Sued Over Holocaust Property Losses
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NEW YORK — A lawsuit filed Thursday seeks damages from the French government for property lost by 75,000 Jews and others who were sent to Nazi death camps during World War II.
The lawsuit was filed in Manhattan federal court by Holocaust victims and their heirs. It said France established and ran holding camps where Jews and others were forced to turn over their property, including bank accounts, insurance policies, artwork and other valuables.
The plaintiffs are seeking an accounting of the property and repayment of money allegedly earned through fraudulent means. They are also seeking restitution and compensatory and punitive damages.
The lawsuit names as defendants the French government and its national railroad, which it said ran the trains that transported the victims.
A third defendant, the national public depository of France, accepted and held the plaintiffs’ property, the lawsuit said.
A French Embassy spokesman in Washington said she had not seen the lawsuit.
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