France 'Responsible' for Holocaust Deportations, Court Rules
76,000 Jews were deported to concentration camps in Germany during World War II, including Auschwitz. Photo courtesy of The Telegraph
France has officially accepted its role in the Holocaust for the first time – admitting its government freely sent thousands of Jews to their deaths during World War II.

The Council of State, the country's highest judicial body, said the Vichy government of the time held 'responsibility' for deportations.

It ruled that Nazi officials did not force them to betray their fellow citizens, but that anti-Semitic persecution was carried out willingly.

But today's ruling stated there would be no payments for the survivors or families of victims, because all had been compensated 'as much as was possible, for all the losses suffered'.

Thousands of Jews were deported from France to concentration camps during the Occupation, which lasted from 1940 until 1944.

Post-war French governments refused to acknowledge any role in the Holocaust by the collaborating Vichy regime. >>> By Peter Allen in Paris | Monday, Febraury 16, 2009

TIMES ONLINE: 'Jewish War Victims Have Had Enough Compensation' French Court Says

The French State was responsible for deporting Jews during the Second World War, the top judicial authority ruled for the first time yesterday, but it dismayed families of victims by declaring that they had already been compensated. >>> Charles Bremner in Paris | Tuesday, February 17, 2009

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French Court Backs Magazine, Charlie Hebdo, over Prophet Cartoons
REUTERS: PARIS - A French court on Wednesday upheld a ruling in favor of a magazine that published cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad, rejecting an appeal by a Muslim group which said they incited hatred of Islam.

The cartoons, published in the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo in February 2006, originally appeared in a Danish newspaper five months earlier.

They provoked violent protests in Asia, Africa and the Middle East in which 50 people were killed. Several European publications reprinted them as an affirmation of free speech.

"These caricatures, which clearly target a fraction and not the whole of the Muslim community, do not constitute an insult or direct personal attack against a group of people because of their religion and do not breach the limits of freedom of expression," the court in Paris ruled.

The decision was the culmination of a long legal battle over the cartoons.

A lower court ruled last year that the cartoons fell into the category of freedom of speech and did not constitute an attack on Islam in general. [Source: French court backs magazine over Prophet cartoons] (Reporting by Thierry Leveque; Writing by James Mackenzie; Editing by Andrew Dobbie) | Wed Mar 12, 2008

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