Pave: Guilty

Le jour 644 de Sarko

I believe France is not responsible. Therefore, I would not force France to apologize.

François Mitterrand,
Fourth President of the French Fifth Republic,
giving France a pass on the Holocaust
ÉLYSÉE September 13, 1994 (NYT)

Finally. This French fairy tale of legalisms* no longer stands.

FRANCE 'RESPONSIBLE' FOR HOLOCAUST DEATHS
PARIS February 16, 2009 (CNN)

COURT RECOGNISES FRANCE'S ROLE
IN DEPORTING JEWS TO NAZI DEATH CAMPS

PARIS February 18, 2009 (Irish Times) - Jewish groups yesterday welcomed a ruling by the French Council of State, the country’s highest administrative tribunal, formally recognising the responsibility of the French state in the deportation of 76,000 Jews to Nazi death camps between 1942 and 1944. Fewer than 3,000 survived.

... France took decades to come to terms with its second World War past. When Gen Charles de Gaulle came to power at the end of the war, he portrayed his country as a nation of resistors.

This version prevailed until the US historian Robert Paxton published Vichy France in 1972. Marcel Ophuls’ 1969 film about the extent of collaboration, Le Chagrin et la Pitié, was kept off state television for 12 years.

FINALLY OFFICIAL: GUILTY
Sorry. What More Do You Want?

French justice, 60+ years in the making, no sting,** no grace.

'JEWISH WAR VICTIMS HAVE HAD ENOUGH
COMPENSATION' FRENCH COURT SAYS
PARIS February 17, 2009 (Times Online)

NO FRENCH PAYOUT FOR JEWS
DEPORTED DURING WORLD WAR II
French State Was Responsible For Deporting Jews During World War II,
Country's Top Judicial Authority Ruled For The First Time Yesterday,
But It Dismayed Families Of Victims By Declaring
That They Had Already Been Compensated.
PARIS February 18, 2009 (The Australian)

So. Where will French justice and impecunity next join issue? [We search the stars.] Algeria (and this)?

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* See posts here and here for background.

** Another example of decades-late stingy French justice here; more here, and here.

PFFT (What is this?): Quoi ? 4¼ | Rayonnement français ½