France Owes WWII Jews Millions: French Gov. owes $91M, French Banks owe $3.7M

Las Vegas Sun / AP ^ | April 16, 2003 at 9:56:37 PDT | ASSOCIATED PRESS

[rface]

The French government and banks owe at least $94.7 million in reparations to Jews whose assets were seized by France's pro-Nazi regime during World War II, a commission said Wednesday.

However, the finding by the Commission for the Indemnity of Victims of Despoliation, or CIVS, is not binding. It will be submitted to the government - which created the commission in 1999 - for a final review.

The commission's announcement Wednesday was based on analyses of 5,500 requests by French Jews seeking restitution. Some 8,800 requests remain.

Based on the initial requests, the commission recommended that the government pay $91 million in compensation and banks pay $3.7 million.

During World War II, occupied France's collaborationist Vichy regime passed a series of laws ordering financial institutions to block Jewish accounts and sell off Jewish-owned stocks and bonds.

The measures, which made Jews vulnerable to persecution and deportation, banned them from many professions and from owning businesses and property.

A 2000 report by another government commission called the extent of wartime looting "stunning." That commission, headed by former French resistance fighter Jean Matteoli, said the Vichy regime confiscated $1.3 billion in assets from Jews during the war.

Those assets included 50,000 businesses and property including bank accounts, insurance policies, art works and pianos.

However, most property and money was returned to survivors or their heirs.

The Matteoli commission was France's answer to accusations the nation was unwilling to face its own role in the Holocaust. CIVS then was created to conduct a more thorough search and serve as the legal framework for Jews to seek reparations.

[rface]

I am sure the French are eager to settle the tab...

(I did a check to make sure this is not a duplicate post....)

Ashland, Missouri

[Az Joe]

Ahhh, the French. What nice people.

[SnarlinCubBear]

Make 'em pay!!!
Freeze bank accounts!!!
We know how to do this, n'est pah?

[DeuceTraveler]

"The French government and banks owe at least $94.7 million in reparations"

To hell with reparations. You can't buy back trust.

[Cobra64]

Yes. And the French owe us a few hundred thousand American lives and all sorts of dollars to pay for the materiel in WWI & WWII. But, as we know, like all socialist/communist countries, they never pay their debts; and in the case of France, just typical of their White Flag mentality. My brother keeps asking me when they remove the color from their nation's flag.