fbpx

In Whose Interest?

In the 1920\'s and 1930\'s, many people purchased life insurance policies as a primary means of achieving future financial security for their families.
[additional-authors]
June 8, 2000

In the 1920’s and 1930’s, many people purchased life insurance policies as a primary means of achieving future financial security for their families. Throughout this period, policyholders faithfully paid their premiums, having no reason to suspect that their hard-earned money would not only be stolen from them, but – in the cruelest of ironies – used to help fund Hitler’s war machine.When the human tragedy that was World War II finally came to a close, most of the survivors, who were children or young adults at the time, had no knowledge of what insurance their parents had. Even fewer had any insurance documents. What happened next has been described as one of “the greatest robberies in history.”

From the end of World War II to the present day, many of the insurance companies that issued Holocaust-era policies – the same entities that gladly accepted millions of dollars in premium payments – have refused to honor claims submitted by survivors and their heirs. Denials have been based on a number of grounds, including: no death certificate was available from the Nazis, the claims were paid to the Nazi government, and premiums lapsed while the policyholders were in the concentration camps.

The victimization continues today. The International Commission on Holocaust Era Insurance Claims under the leadership of its chairman, former Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger – an organization created to secure just and equitable restitution for Holocaust survivors and their heirs – has failed to hold major European insurance companies accountable. In fact, on two of the most critical issues – the payment of claims and the production of policyholder lists – the commission’s record to date is abysmal. After battling regulators and Jewish groups for more than a year over minute details regarding a claims process (the implementation of which was delayed several times), these companies are now rejecting three out of four fast-track claims.

Fast-track claims are those exceptional claims in which a Holocaust survivor or heir actually possesses original documentation of the polices or other supporting evidence. While these claims should be virtually indisputable, companies that include Allianz (operating as Fireman’s Fund in California) and Generali have repeatedly rejected most of them for no good reason. The tragedy is that the International Commission is impotent to respond.

The denial of claims is just one more example of a two-part strategy these companies have devised to avoid justice. First, control all of the information and refuse sufficient access to insurance records. Second, drag the process out for as many years as possible. With the average age of Holocaust survivors approaching 80, the companies know that their financial exposure will be significantly minimized each year that restitution is delayed.

And, now, just last month, the companies have deployed the strategy yet another time in hopes of stopping survivors from gaining any access to the claims process. This time, the companies are using their most powerful and costly weapon to stop survivors – litigation.

Four separate lawsuits on behalf of more than 30 insurers were filed in federal court in Sacramento to stop enforcement of California law enacted through AB 600, authored by Assembly member Wally Knox and sponsored by The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles’ Jewish Community Relations Committee. The bill, which the legislature passed unanimously and Governor Gray Davis signed into law, required European insurance companies that conduct business in California to deliver to the Department of Insurance by April 7, 2000, a list of insurance policies issued in Europe between 1920 and 1945. Enactment of this law was important for survivors and heirs because it enables them to verify insurance policies purchased by their parents and other relatives. It is estimated that European Jews alone had hundreds of thousands of policies that were never claimed. Experts estimate the value of these unpaid policies exceed a few billion dollars.

These insurance companies will do anything to avoid or, at minimum, delay this kind of financial exposure. They argue the law is unconstitutional; that it’s unreasonable; and that it’s unnecessary, since there is an International Commission.

Although the production of policyholder lists by insurance companies has been a principal issue of the International Commission since its inception, chairman Eagleburger has refused to stand up to the insurance companies who are members of the commission. Generali admits to having a computer disk with 300,000 policyholder names. Nevertheless, Eagleburger has reached an agreement with the company which limits the number of names Generali must deliver for the commission’s Web site to only a few thousand. Allianz, the large German insurer which is spending $4 billion to buy the Pimco bond fund, says that they can’t afford the resources to compile the list. Eagleburger is allowing them to submit samples instead. For the insurers, these are cost-effective compromises. For survivors, they are appalling and unacceptable decisions.

In their lawsuits, the insurance companies claim, incredibly, that production of policyholder lists violates their civil rights. Eagleburger and the German government have each filed papers supporting the insurance companies. It would appear that neither the commission’s chairman nor the German government have much concern for the civil rights of Holocaust survivors.

Osias Goren is chairman of Jewish Community Relations Committee of Los Angeles and former president of the board of The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles.

Osias Goren is chairman of Jewish Community Relations Committee of Los Angeles and former president of the board of The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles.

Did you enjoy this article?
You'll love our roundtable.

Editor's Picks

Latest Articles

More news and opinions than at a
Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.

More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.

More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.