Monaco apologizes for deporting Jews in WWII

Monaco’s Prince Albert II apologizes for his country’s role in deporting Jews to Nazi camps during World War II — more than seven decades after police rounded up scores of people from the seaside principality.

“To say this today is to recognize a fact. To say it today, on this day, before you, is to ask forgiveness,” Albert says, as he unveils a monument at the Monaco cemetery carved with the names of Monaco’s deported Jews.

“We committed the irreparable in handing over to the neighboring authorities women, men and a child who had taken refuge with us to escape the persecutions they had suffered in France,” says the prince.

European Jewish Congress President Moshe Kantor says in response, “We welcome today’s event and the desire of the principality to properly examine its role during these dark days of the Nazi occupation.”

— AP