Descendant of Auschwitz Victims Files Suit Against French National Railway

A Chicago area descendant of Holocaust victims has initiated a federal class-action lawsuit alleging the French national railway confiscated belongings from their ancestors while transporting them to Concentration Camps.

Jewish and other “undesirable” victims were stuffed into cattle cars for the journey and had items like cash, gold, works of art and musical instruments taken from them, according to Lincolnshire resident Karen Scalin - a plaintiff with Josiane Piquard and Roland Cherrier in the suit filed in Chicago’s federal court - seeking compensation from the railway for the stolen items.

Scalin’s grandparents perished in Auschwitz in 1942. Piquard and Cherrier are French citizens who had lost family in Auschwitz. The plaintiff list includes anyone else in similar circumstances.

“Unfortunately for the 70 years or so since the French railway was involved, they have never been held accountable for their actions,” Scalin, 65, said in a phone interview with the Chicago Tribune.

The French government has agreed to set aside reparations for those in the U.S. whose ancestors were mistreated, but an attorney filing the lawsuit said the benefits they provide are “limited” and do not compensate the victims or heirs for property confiscated by the railway.

The lawsuit was filed on April 16, International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

more via the Chicago Tribune