As
part of an ongoing international outreach effort, The
International Commission on Holocaust Era Insurance Claims
(ICHEIC) Chairman and former Secretary of State
Lawrence S. Eagleburger is calling upon media outlets
and relevant organizations throughout the world to publicize
the historic Holocaust survivor insurance claims process,
to inform potential beneficiaries about the existence
and availability of recently-expanded policyholder lists.
"It is imperative that we reach out to all possible
claimants worldwide to make them aware of the policyholder
lists that are published on the ICHEIC website, www.icheic.org,
so that all of those who have a right to receive the proceeds
of an unpaid insurance policy have an opportunity to file
a claim before December 31, 2003."
ICHEIC is reaching out to media outlets in countries where
there are likely to be policyholders and/or their heirs.
These countries include: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada,
Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece,
Hungary, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Libya, Lithuania, Mexico,
The Netherlands, Norway, Peru, Poland, Romania, Slovakia,
Spain, Switzerland, Ukraine, and the United States. The
claims resolution process provides individuals with a
central source for information on, investigation into,
and payment of potential outstanding policies, without
any charge to the claimants. Individuals seeking more
information on the claims process should call 1.800.957.3203
or visit www.icheic.org.
Since its inception in 1998 ICHEIC has managed a historic
research effort to identify Holocaust victims and/or their
heirs who may have unpaid life, education and dowry policies.
ICHEIC also continually reviews inquiries of possible
policy holders who have filed claims on their own initiative.
In April 2000 ICHEIC first published names of policyholders
and has updated it several times since. In total, nearly
450,000 names have now been published representing more
than 500,000 insurance policies. ICHEIC member companies
will contribute over 12,000 new names of policyholders
over the next 1 to 2 months. The majority of these names
will be provided from portfolios covering Eastern Europe,
Italy and Switzerland.
These lists result from extensive archival and other work.
With respect to potential German Jewish policyholder names,
for example, the German insurance industry compiled electronic
data on German policyholders, collecting more than 8 million
names. A group of archivists and historians then collectively
researched records in Germany, Israel, the United States
and other locations to gather all available data to create
a list of the pre-war German Jewish population. The data
included names extracted from a national census of 1939
as well as names from Memorial books, emigration and deportation
lists and other registers of German Holocaust victims.
Over 2.5 million data entries were collected in an attempt
to reconstruct information that had been unavailable for
decades. The list of 2.5 million entries is being processed
and edited over the coming months to create the most complete
list of German Jews ever assembled.
The two lists (the approximately 8 million names of policyholders
in Germany and the list of 2.5 million data entries of
Jewish residents of Germany) were matched to determine
who among the Jewish community might have had an insurance
policy. The fact that a name appears on the published
list is not a guarantee that the individual named or his
or her heirs or beneficiaries are entitled to payment.
Rather, these lists serve as a reference tool for the
public to facilitate the claims process.
The German Federation Archives, along with numerous other
individuals, played a key role in bringing this project
to fruition. Once completed, the list of Jewish residents
of Germany will be available to organizations in the United
States, Germany and Israel and will stand as a lasting
memorial to the victims of the Nazi oppression.
About ICHEIC
The International Commission on Holocaust Era Insurance
Claims (ICHEIC) was established in October of 1998 by
the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC),
in conjunction with several European insurance companies,
European regulators, representatives of several Jewish
organizations, and the State of Israel. The Commission
is charged with establishing a just process that will
expeditiously address the issue of unpaid insurance policies
issued to victims of the Holocaust.
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