Holocaust-Era Insurance List Posted

The international commission investigating whether European insurers cheated Holocaust survivors has published on the Internet the names of thousands of World War II-era insurance policyholders who are owed money.

The names were posted Wednesday in more than a dozen languages on the Web site (https://www.icheic.org) of the International Commission on Holocaust Era Insurance Claims. The commission was established in 1998 by the National Assn. of Insurance Commissioners in cooperation with several European insurance companies, European regulators, representatives of several Jewish organizations and Israel.

The goal of the commission, chaired by former U.S. Secretary of State Lawrence S. Eagleburger, was to identify possible claimants or their heirs for the purpose of paying valid claims that might still exist.

“This is a milestone event,” said Elan Steinberg, executive director of the World Jewish Congress. “The nature of Holocaust-era insurance policies requires the publication of lists. Simply put, a survivor or an heir would have no idea of the name of the policy or the value of a policy that a deceased father or uncle had.

“So, the lists are the instrumentality by which the entire claims process is driven,” said Steinberg, who is a commission member.

About 10,000 names came from the five insurance companies that joined the commission--Allianz AG, AXA, Generali, Winterhur and Zurich Allied.

Steinberg said he expected that 9,000 more names that were discovered in Austrian archives will be posted by the weekend.

At this point, Steinberg said, there is no way to tell how many policies will be claimed. Indeed, Steinberg said he expects that many of the policyholders and their heirs are deceased. “At the end of the process, the funds from the unclaimed policies will be used for the benefit of Holocaust survivors in a humanitarian fund,” Steinberg said.

He estimated that the policies will generate at least $600 million for survivors, heirs and the humanitarian fund.

The commission Web site includes information about how the lists were gathered and how to search for names. The Web site cautions that “these lists may not include all potential claims, and people should not be discouraged from filing claims simply because their names or the names of family members do not appear on any published lists. Anyone who believes he or she has a valid life, education or dowry policy is encouraged to present the claim to ICHEIC.”