So you can't figure out how or even why someone would or could go after the government or you, for something that happened 10+ generations ago?
warning may melt snowflakes
its simple, Judeo-Christian-Islamic ethics.
if the sins of a Parent are handed down through the generations; then the children are morally liable for their parents actions. This paradigm has crept into all legal system's in use where populations are majority JCI.
As an example; a woman breaks a rule and all future generations of women are punished. Perhaps this is what happens when you build something out of spare parts, twice.
(reference, Hebrew myth, Lilith and Tanakh/Torah or Genesis, Eve)
there are several referent examples in the Tanakh, Talmud, Bible, Quran in several of the Hadiths; of sons and daughters being punished because of the actions of distant relatives. One yearly celebration remembers killing first born sons because actions well out of their control. One of my favorite parts is the killing of all the different animals. I get the dramatic effect but wow. the version in Nissan is cool - the Bible seems to have toned it down a bit.
so:
A person performs a legal action.
later - after that person is dead - social ethics change.
The dead person no longer has an estate from which to demand restitution.
The descendants, may no longer even know an ancestor was involved.
The descendants evolved with their culture and their ethics have changed too.
The government that engaged in the now socially unacceptable practice no longer exists.
The government that went to war to end the now socially unacceptable practice still exists.
The current government has become more paternalistic over time. More and more taking on a parental/family role - caring for widows, the sick, orphans and elderly. Now universal health care.
If you are in a bad way and you didn't do anything wrong - it MUST be your parents fault, the JCI texts tell me so.
Solution, demand your surrogate parents give you reparations. Sounds much like poking a stick in your own eye - but that's just me talkin.
We rail against honor killings, duels religious wars and blood feuds of all kinds. All were common place in the past. Just perhaps we're growing up. Like it or not, our collective morals have changed since the bronze age.