"French Bank Agreement" indicates that Jewish Holocaust victims were paid restitution because French financial institutions had wrongfully seized Jewish-owned bank accounts during WWII. Holocaust victims who possess claims against the French railway Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer Français (SNCF), might similarly receive restitution.
These claimants seek compensation from SNCF because it was reportedly paid per head per kilometer to assist in transporting at least 75,000 victims in cattle cars, to Nazi death camps between 1941 and 1944. Although the claimants sought restitution from SNCF by filing a U.S. class action lawsuit, "Nazis’ Human Cargo Now Haunts French Railway" stated that this lawsuit was dismissed in November 2001.
The 2001 dismissal was affirmed at a November 9, 2004 Court of Appeal’s decision. The decision explained that pursuant to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (28 U.S.C. § 1603 (b) {1976}), the trial court lacked subject matter jurisdiction over the lawsuit. Proposed federal legislation could however, finally permit the above-described claimants to seek restitution from SNCF in the U.S. courts:
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Copyright 2011 Fred L. Abrams