Holocaust families 'triumph'

2004-03-31 07:19

New York - Nearly 16 000 Holocaust survivors and heirs will receive cheques for $1 000 as "token payments" on insurance policies that vanished in the chaos of World War 2, an international commission said Tuesday.

The $16m is being given to survivors in 62 countries solely on "anecdotal evidence" that they once held life insurance policies issued by European companies. Another six thousand people with documented claims will be paid later.

The payments were announced at a news conference by the International Commission on Holocaust Era Insurance Claims.

The commission, established in 1998 to investigate and resolve survivors' claims of lost or unpaid policies, has a fund of $500m for insurance claims and other humanitarian purposes.

The 15 890 claims include 5 061 people in Israel, 4 867 in the United States and the rest in countries ranging from Argentina to Zimbabwe.

Jewish leaders praised US state insurance commissioners and US governors for their help, but deplored the initial refusal of insurers to acknowledge responsibility for settling claims from the Nazi era.

Muted triumph

"This is a muted - and I underline muted - triumph for justice that was denied for 60 years," said Roman Kent, chairman of the American Gathering of Holocaust Survivors. "People bought insurance for their families, their future, but the companies had the audacity to say 'we didn't owe you anything."'

"Late justice is faulty justice," said Israel Singer, chairman of the World Jewish Congress. "It's a bittersweet feeling I have."

Insurers in the settlement include France's AXA; the Swiss companies Winterthur and Zurich; Alliance of Germany and Generali of Italy, which either issued such policies or have post-war ties to now-defunct firms that did.

Some of the companies have US subsidiaries, but no American insurance firms were involved in the settlement.

Commission chairman and former US Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger and Samuel Berger, former national security adviser to President Bill Clinton, facilitated the review of thousands of claims from people without old policies or other documents.

Only a token

Eagleburger, in a written statement, said the group sought to "morally address the wrongs done to Holocaust victims... these payments are only a token, but they represent efforts to attain a small measure of justice."

Anne Marie Burnsed, speaking for the fund, said "since agreements have been in place and guidelines established, companies have co-operated in processing claims."

She said that despite the lack of actual policies or other records with names, some 2 016 claims were matched against companies' old files and the commission's research database.

In all, the commission has reviewed about 40 000 claims and paid out $66m prior to the latest batch, which brings the total to $82m, said Mara Rudman, the commission's chief operating officer.

- AP