Albert Corrieri is seeking €43,200, which he calculates as €10 per hour for the time he spent in forced labour. “We are forgotten victims,” he said. “This is a trial for history and for memory, while I can still bear witness to what I suffered.”

Mr Corrieri was one of more than 600,000 French citizens sent to German labour camps by the Vichy government to replace German workers who had joined the military. He worked without pay for more than two years, from 1943 to 1945.

Before his deportation, he had worked at a restaurant in Marseilles. At the age of 20 he was sent to Ludwigshafen, where he was forced to load coal wagons.

He was injured during Allied bombings, an experience that still haunts him. “I went through more than a hundred bombings and I saw one of my fellow workers die right beside me. I still have nightmares about it,” he said.

His case follows a similar compensation claim by 101-year-old Erpilio Trovati, which was rejected earlier this month by a court in Nice. The court ruled that a 1951 law had set a five-year period to claim damages. Mr Trovati is appealing the decision.

Michel Pautot, the lawyer representing both men, argued that the statute of limitations does not apply since deportation and forced labour constitute crimes against humanity, which have no time limit under French and international law.

Pautot also noted that Mr Corrieri was not officially recognised as a former forced labourer until 1957, by which time the deadline had expired.

The public rapporteur, an independent legal adviser, has recommended rejecting Mr Corrieri’s claim. A verdict is expected on 18 March 2025.