Jewish Federation to Sponsor Workshop

Thousands of Holocaust survivors and the families of those who perished may be eligible to receive term or total life insurance money thought lost in the war.

The Jewish Federation will sponsor a workshop tonight at the Milken Community Campus to explain how to track down unknown or forgotten insurance policies.

“This provides a broad picture of what’s going on,” said Marcia Reines Josephy, director and curator of the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust. “They’re not going to be able to come [to the meeting] and get money.”

What people will get, she said, is information on how to find insurance policies from companies that may have sold policies to European Jews before World War II and how to lobby state officials to pass supportive legislation.

Officials emphasized, however, that the meeting will not deal with war reparations.

Josephy said many survivors and their family members have tried to file claims against insurance policies, but since they rarely have proper documentation and the policies are old or may not have been paid in full, companies will deny the claims.

Legislators throughout the country have introduced legislation that would urge companies to release information in their files and ensure there is no time limit on these claims, Josephy said.

“People didn’t realize [they had policies] or they were interned in concentration camps, there were reasons why these were left unclaimed,” she said.

The meeting will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Milken Community Campus, 22622 Vanowen Blvd. in West Hills.

For more information, call (213) 761-8160.