NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — A federal judge today dismissed four class-action lawsuits against two German companies over their alleged Nazi-era conduct, ruling that the suits raise political questions outside the judicial realm.

Noting that treaties exist to handle claims arising from World War II, U.S. District Judge Dickinson R. Debevoise said "to structure a reparations scheme would be to express the ultimate lack of respect" for the U.S. government leaders who ratified those pacts.

"Every human instinct yearns to remediate in some way the immeasurable wrongs inflicted upon so many millions of people by Nazi Germany so many years ago, wrongs in which corporate Germany unquestionably participated," Debevoise wrote in a 78-page opinion.

But, he added, "this court does not have the power to engage in such remediation."

The ruling came in two lawsuits filed against Degussa AG and two filed against Siemens AG.

The plaintiffs claimed Degussa AG, a chemical and precious metals processor, willingly helped the Nazis produce the gas used in death camps and assisted in processing gold seized from Jews, including metal fillings taken from their mouths.

Siemens, a multinational industrial giant, was accused of profiting from slave labor provided by the Nazi regime.

Lawrence Kill, a lawyer for survivors and their heirs, had no immediate comment on whether they would appeal.

The Degussa lawsuit was filed in New Jersey because its U.S. subsidiary, Degussa Corp., is based in Ridgefield Park, N.J. Siemens, based in Munich, Germany, has several subsidiaries based in New Jersey.

The companies sought to have the lawsuits dismissed on several grounds, and Debevoise agreed with the argument that war-related claims should be handled between nations.

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