At 104, Albert Corrieri asks European court to order France to pay for WWII forced labour

Background

Albert Corrieri was a plumber in Marseille’s Vieux-Port when, at age 20, the collaborationist Vichy regime sent him to Germany under the Service du travail obligatoire (STO). From 13 March 1943 to 15 April 1945, he was interned in a camp and forced to load coal wagons at a chemical plant in Ludwigshafen, supporting the Nazi war effort. He worked six days a week, ten-hour shifts, and was wounded in the arm during an Allied bombing raid.

The claim

On 15 June 2026, the 104-year-old announced he is turning to the European Court of Human Rights to secure payment for those hours. He asks for 43,200 euros, calculated at 10 euros per hour. French domestic courts have already refused his claim. In 2025, the Marseille administrative appeal court ruled that a law of 14 May 1951, which provides compensation for all damage suffered by STO victims, including financial loss, had already settled his case. Corrieri argues that he was compensated for prejudice but not paid for the labour itself.

“I was reduced to a state of slavery, forced to carry out the hardest labour under the threat of weapons, six days a week, ten hours at a stretch, day and night, without receiving a single centime of pay.”

“I believe France owes me a debt.”

Legal and historical stakes

Michel Pautot, Corrieri’s lawyer, insists the case goes beyond a personal claim. He wants the European court to recognise the forced labour of the Second World War as a form of modern slavery. Pautot maintains that the French state should have set up a dedicated fund for the tiny number of survivors still alive.

“This fight goes beyond his person. It is about having the modern slavery of the Second World War recognised.”

Last chance

Pautot previously represented another STO survivor, Erpilio Trovati, but that action ended when Trovati died last autumn. For Corrieri, now 104, the application to the Strasbourg court is his final resort.

“Time is pressing. At 104, Albert is at the great twilight of his life. The European court is therefore our last hope.”