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Economy

Renault Heirs Sue France For Forced Nationalization, Stir Questions About Nazi Ties

Seven grandchildren of French carmaker Louis Renault are challenging the confiscation of property from the company’s 1945 forced nationalization. As the courts decide whether to hear the case, historians raise old questions about French industry’s role in

A post-War Renault Juvaquatre (Houbazure)
A post-War Renault Juvaquatre (Houbazure)

PARIS - Heirs of the French automobile founder Louis Renault are seeking damages for the nationalization of the company that was imposed by the state in 1945, reopening decades-old debates over collaboration with Nazi Germany by the carmaker and other big businesses in France .

Seven Renault grandchildren have launched a legal challenging to the nationalization that was imposed after France was liberated from the German occupiers. The nationalization was "unique and unprecedented," insists their lawyer, Thierry Levy. "No other company was treated this way, even among those whose directors were convicted of collaborating."

Louis Renault was arrested in September 1944 and died a month later in prison before being tried.

Without giving an estimate of the damages they're seeking, Renault's heirs have made a list of all the confiscated goods. Louis Renault owned 96.8% of the company he'd founded in 1898 with his brother. Renault owned the carmaker's main factories around Paris, as well as buildings and land in eastern France, patents, the company's Belgian branch in Vilvorde, administrative buildings on the Champs-Elysees and factories in Le Mans, southwest of Paris.

But even before the legal validity is determined, and whether the claim can actually go to trial, the case has already rekindled old questions about Renault's behavior in German-occupied France. Labor union activists and survivors of Nazi camps alike have argued that Renault collaborated voluntarily and actively with the Nazis, and warn against "a falsification of the history of Nazi occupation" and an "attempt at rehabilitation" that the case could provoke.

Henry Rousso, research director at the French National Center for Scientific Research concedes that Renault was "definitely treated differently" when it was nationalized, but that it may have indeed warranted the harsher measures. "Renault worked for the German war economy," Rousso says. "To what extent and with what degree of constraint? That remains to be studied."

For another researcher, Denis Peschanski: "Peugeot and Michelin created ties with the Allied Forces and the French Resistance, and set up intelligent sabotage, underground actions and even secretly negotiated their way out of having their factories bombed. That's something Renault definitely did not do."

Read the original article in French

Photo - Houbazure

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FOCUS: Israel-Palestine War

Why The U.S. Lost Its Leverage In The Middle East — And May Never Get It Back

In the Israel-Hamas war, Qatar now plays the key role in negotiations, while the United States appears increasingly disengaged. Shifts in the region and beyond require that Washington move quickly or risk ceding influence to China and others for the long term.

November 30, 2023, Tel Aviv, Israel: U.S Secretary of State Antony Blinken shakes hands with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

Chuck Kennedy/U.S State/ ZUMA
Sébastien Boussois

-Analysis-

PARIS — Upon assuming office in 2008, then-President Barack Obama declared that United States would gradually begin withdrawing from various conflict zones across the globe, initiating a complex process that has had a major impact on the international landscape ever since.

This started with the American departure from Iraq in 2010, and was followed by Donald Trump's presidency , during which the "Make America Great Again" policy redirected attention to America's domestic interests.

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The withdrawal trend resumed under Joe Biden , who ordered the exit of U.S. forces from Afghanistan in 2021. To maintain a foothold in all intricate regions to the east, America requires secure and stable partnerships. The recent struggle in addressing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict demonstrates that Washington increasingly relies on the allied Gulf states for any enduring influence.

Since the collapse of the Camp David Accords in 1999 during Bill Clinton's tenure, Washington has consistently supported Israel without pursuing renewed peace talks that could have led to the establishment of a Palestinian state .

While President Joe Biden's recent challenges in pushing for a Gaza ceasefire met with resistance from an unyielding Benjamin Netanyahu, they also stem from the United States' overall disengagement from the issue over the past two decades. Biden now is seeking to re-engage in the Israel-Palestine matter, yet it is Qatar that is the primary broker for significant negotiations such as the release of hostages in exchange for a ceasefire —a situation the United States lacks the leverage to enforce.

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