Office of the Insurance Commissioner
Holocaust-era Insurance Claims Update Feb. 2000
Why Publication of Names is Key
Mike Kreidler
Washington Insurance Commissioner
FACT SHEET:
In July 1997 a list of names on dormant Swiss bank accounts dating from the Holocaust years was published by the International Herald Tribune and New York Times. One of those names startled the new U.S. Ambassador to Switzerland, Madeline Kunin. It was her mother’s. Until that moment, the Ambassador had only known her mother was a Holocaust survivor, but had no idea she had a claim on a bank account opened more than a half-century earlier.
For the same reason, publication of insurance policyholder lists is key to identifying claimants. Publication of the policyholder lists from that era can alert most Holocaust survivors and their heirs whether or not they have unpaid insurance claims due them.
The International Commission on Holocaust-era Insurance Claims (ICHEIC) is based on a memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed by European insurers, insurance regulators and advocates for claimants. The MOU recognizes the importance of publishing the names of unpaid policyholders dating from those years. However, on the eve of the ICHEIC’s launch of its claims process, the companies have resisted the publication of names. It serves the purposes of the insurers to resist publication of names which would inevitably expand the number of claimants.
Italian insurer Generali in 1997 at first denied the existence of Holocaust-era files, then found the names of 340,000 policyholders. These have not been published. The company has now created a computer disk with 90,000 of these names, which they say are "unpaid" – in a definition unknown to us. These names were recently released to the ICHEIC, which has attempted to match policyholder names with known victims of the Holocaust. The ICHEIC has indicated it will likely only publish 5000 names, a tiny fraction of the original list. Since this data exists it should be published.
Allianz of Germany admits it has 1.5 million policy files but has not released any lists to regulators or the public. Even an independent audit report of the files has not been released. The company now says it will provide a partial list of 150,000 names to the ICHEIC "over the next year or so." Allianz has since 1997 made only 38 settlement offers for unpaid policies. Most documented claims have been rejected. Allianz is the parent company of Fireman’s Fund.
Winterthur of Switzerland reports it has located up to 45,000 files for policies originally sold in Germany, Belgium and France, and "assumes" they were paid. An undisclosed number of such policies were actually confiscated during the war and remain unpaid to original policyholders, but the company denies any further responsibility for these. Since 1997 Winterthur has received 4000 inquiries about unpaid policies but has concluded only nine are valid claims. Winterthur is the parent company of Unigard Insurance, headquartered in Washington.
Zurich, another Swiss insurer, has identified 22,000 policies it sold in German-occupied territories but claims only 22 are unpaid today. The company says it does not know how many of its German policies were actually paid out to the Nazi regime, but also denies any further responsibility in the matter. No lists of unpaid Zurich policyholders have been published. Zurich is the parent company of Farmers’ Insurance Company.
French insurance giant AXA has computerized its files containing 570,000 policyholder names, but after one and half years, it has not provided these lists to the ICHEIC. The company now claims that privacy laws prevent the publication of names. AXA is the parent company of The Equitable.
Without lists, it is unlikely that justice can be obtained during the two year period established for the ICHEIC claims process.
These Holocaust-era insurers or their subsidiaries now operate in the U.S. In Washington State, they are subject to regulation by the Office of the Insurance Commissioner (OIC). A 1999 Washington law created a Holocaust Insurance Claims project within the OIC to assist survivors and heirs with claims. But without publication of lists, there is doubt the ICHEIC insurers will have complied with Washington's regulatory laws about fair business practices and payment of claims.
The OIC commends Chairman Eagleburger and the work he has done in this process. The OIC will continue to participate in the process, and at the same time, continue to press the issues that will help survivors.
The Office of the Insurance Commissioner can help you
If you have any questions or need additional information about your rights as an insurance consumer, call our Consumer Hotline at 1-800-562-6900 or visit our web site at www.insurance.wa.gov
February 11, 2000
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