Holocaust Insurance Claims Appeals Conclude; $300 Million Awarded to Survivors

March 20, 2007

The International Commission on Holocaust Era Insurance Claims (ICHEIC) announced that its claims and appeals processes have concluded. More than $300 million in awards were distributed to more than 48,000 Holocaust survivors and their heirs.

The ICHEIC was established in 1998 by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), in conjunction with several European insurance companies, European governments, representatives of several Jewish and Holocaust survivor organizations, and the State of Israel to ensure payment of valid insurance claims. The NAIC has led the states' interaction with the ICHEIC, assisting claimants and their heirs with the process.

"In the world of the Holocaust survivor and their families, there is little opportunity to obtain financial compensation for the torture and loss that is part of their wartime histories," said ICHEIC Vice Chairman and former Pennsylvania Insurance Commissioner Diane Koken. "In point of fact, we will never be able to make true reparation for the horror or misery they endured, but we can and have held insurance companies responsible to pay for the promise of protection offered by Holocaust-era insurance policies."

ICHEIC was charged with expeditiously addressing, at no cost to claimants, unpaid insurance policies issued to victims of the Holocaust. It conducted an extensive worldwide outreach campaign to encourage claimants to file, and more than 70 European insurance companies and partner entities participated in the process.

An archival investigation and matching process resulted in member company offers to 8,000 claimants, totaling nearly $100 million on claims that originally did not name an insurance company. ICHEIC also extended $30 million in awards through its Eastern European humanitarian claims process for claims on policies written by companies nationalized or liquidated after World War II and for which no present-day successor could be identified.

ICHEIC extended an additional 31,000 humanitarian awards totaling $31 million on eligible undocumented claims that contained a high level of anecdotal information regarding insurance but could not be matched against company records. These awards were made in recognition of the fact that, due to the ravages of war and the passage of time, many claims cannot be substantiated today.

For more information about ICHEIC, visit www.icheic.org.

Source: National Association of Insurance Commissioners