Kurt Schechter, 82, is suing the French train company SNCF for its part in transporting thousands of Jews, including his parents, to the Nazi death camps between 1942 and 1944. Schechter is demanding the sum of 1 euro for SNCF's "crimes against humanity."
SNCF claims in its defense that it was acting under orders from the Vichy regime, and was unable to make many of its own decisions. Schechter, however, says that the company decided to give in on a "matter it considered secondary in order to provide victims for the barbarian actions of the Nazis." He found documents showing that SNCF charged the French authorities for transporting Jews as late as 1944, when the liberation of France was close at hand. French President Jacques Chirac said eight years ago that the Vichy Administration in France, which was set up by and collaborated with the Nazis, was responsible for the deportation of Jews to their deaths.
SNCF claims in its defense that it was acting under orders from the Vichy regime, and was unable to make many of its own decisions. Schechter, however, says that the company decided to give in on a "matter it considered secondary in order to provide victims for the barbarian actions of the Nazis." He found documents showing that SNCF charged the French authorities for transporting Jews as late as 1944, when the liberation of France was close at hand. French President Jacques Chirac said eight years ago that the Vichy Administration in France, which was set up by and collaborated with the Nazis, was responsible for the deportation of Jews to their deaths.