Paris, France - Jewish Officials Unhappy With Holocaust Lawsuit Against Railroad

Paris, France - A court decision to force the French national railroad to compensate descendants of French Jews deported during World War II has drawn criticism from the French Jewish community.
A court in Toulouse ordered the SNCF and the state last week to pay about $77,000 to Alain Lipietz, a European Parliament deputy from the Green Party.
But French Jewish officials criticized the decision, apparently because of their belief that since the railroad has owned up to its wartime activities, the decision could open up a slew of lawsuits and could result in a backlash against the French Jewish community.

Nazi-hunter Serge Klarsfeld said the SNCF simply had been requisitioned by the Germans during the war and had had no room to maneuver. “Many people had their houses and businesses and cars requisitioned,” said Klarsfeld, president of the Association of the Sons and Daughters of Jewish Deportees from France. “Should they be charged today? The answer is no. Only the really top decision makers should ever have been sought out.”