Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

Prince Albert of Monaco Apologizes for Nazi Deportation of Jews

The prince of Monaco apologized for his country’s treatment of Jews during the Holocaust.

In a speech Thursday at a Monaco cemetery, Prince Albert II asked Jews to forgive the tiny country on the French Riviera for its police rounding up Jews for deportation 73 years ago, The Associated Press reported. Many of those Jews were refugees who had thought the neutral country would be a save haven from the Nazis.

The prince faced Monaco’s chief rabbis and other Jewish leaders, including Nazi hunters Serge and Beate Klarsfeld.

READ: Germany honors Nazi-hunting couple who found Klaus Barbie

Albert unveiled a monument carved with the names of deported Jews. According to the AP, Monaco authorities, under pressure from the Vichy government of Nazi-occupied France, rounded up at least 66 Jews from Aug. 27-28, 1942. Only nine survived.

It was the first clear public acknowledgement of Monaco’s complicity in the Holocaust, a palace official told the AP.

European Jewish Congress President Dr. Moshe Kantor said “we welcome today’s event and the desire of the principality to properly examine its role during these dark days of the Nazi occupation.”

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.