August 22, 2005
The Chairman of the International Commission on Holocaust Era Insurance Claims (ICHEIC), Lawrence Eagleburger, has announced that ICHEIC has offered approximately US$ 16 million to around 11,000 Holocaust victims and their heirs. US$ 5.5 million were paid out for life insurance policies held with companies that were liquidated or nationalized after World War II and for which there are no present-day successor companies, and US$ 10.5 million were granted for claims containing only anecdotal information referencing a Holocaust-era insurance policy and for which no supporting documentation could be found. “These humanitarian claims payments are a critical component of ICHEIC’s overall mission: to pay previously uncompensated Holocaust-era insurance claims,” Eagleburger said in a media release. ICHEIC was established in 1998 by the American 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 body is charged with addressing the issue of unpaid insurance policies issued to victims of the Holocaust.
