Insurance Bibliography

1. "Allianz tells NAIC that it's committed to resolving valid, unpaid Holocaust claims". Underwriters Report(December 11, 1997): 4.
Note: An Allianz AG spokesperson told a committee of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners that the company is confronting its corporate past in an attempt to settle a possible 1800 unpaid life insurancee claims for Holocaust victims inspite of the fact that the Nazi regime confiscated the cash value of their victims' life insurance.

2. Allianz-AG: progress report. Munich: Allianz-AG, 1997.
Note: This summary report provides an overview of progress Allianz AG has made in addressing the issue of life insurance policies held by Nazi victims or their families.
Filed in Library at A20.
Online: http://www.allianz-versicherung.de/.

3. Brostoff, Steven. "Regulators toughen Holocaust stance". National Underwriter 102, no.8(February 23, 1998): 3, 57.
Note: California Insurance Commissioner Quackenbush, in his testimony before the House Banking Committee, indicated that insurance commissioners are prepared to demand resolution of unpaid claims of Holocaust victims.
Filed in Library at B11.

4. "Commissioner Senn invites Holocaust survivors to testify in Seattle on insurance claims ignored by European carriers". PR Newswire(December 1, 1997).
Note: The National Association of Insurance Commissioners planned to hear testimony on uncollected insurance claims by Holocaust victims in Seattle as part of Washington State Commissioner Senn's work with the Working Group on Holocaust/Insurance Issues. As the result of a state survey of survivors and their families, a class-action lawsuit has been filed by a group of European insurance claims.
Filed in the Library at C3.

5. Feldman, Gerald A. Insurance in the National Socialist Period: sources and research problems. Washington: National Archives, 1999.
Note: Feldman, commissioned to write a history of Allianz AG and the insurance business in the National Socialist Period, spoke about the archival sources used in his research during his presentation at the Holocaust-Era Symposium in December 1998.
Filed in Library at F10.
Online: www.archives.gov/research/holocaust/articles-and-papers/symposium-
papers/insurance-in-national-socialist-period.html.

6. "Holocaust victims ask Albright to intervene". Underwriters Report(July 16, 1998): 4.
Note: The Committee for Justice for Holocaust Victims represesenting Holocaust victims/heirs has called on Secretary of State Albright to act on behalf of victims denied life insurance claims by state-controlled European insurers.

7. Howard, J. C. "Quakenbush pushed on Holocaust claims (Insurance Commissioner Chuck Quakenbush, old claims)". National Underwriter Life & Health - Financial Services 101, no.45(November 10, 1997): 38+.
Note: In this article, and in an earlier November 3 article, California Insurance Commissioner Chuck Quackenbush was urged to require California insurance companies that are subsidiaries of German firms which carried policies on Holocaust victims to pay off the claims. It was estimated that one-third of the Holocaust survivors had family members with insurance policies.
Filed in Library at H3.

8. "Industry next on list for holocaust victim recoveries". Thompson's World Insurance News(November 3, 1997): 2.
Note: Testimony will be taken in December 1997 about what happened to insurance policies held by survivors at the end of WWII. Allegations are against European-based insurers with subsidiaries in North America and many of the survivors are U.S. residents.

9. Insurers face the past: another component of the European Jewish legacy is reclaimed. Policy Dispatch No. 27. Jerusalem: World Jewish Congress, April 1998. 4-page report
Note: German insurance companies collaborated with the Nazis to defraud Jews of their insurance savings. Policies of those who emigrated or who were murdered in concentration camps were annulled and the proceeds looted by the State and/or the insurance companies. Generali, insurer of most Eastern European Jews, has in the past stonewalled claimants; now Generali, in the midst of a bid to take over Israel's Migdal insurance company, is addressing the issue of victim claims.
Filed in Library at W27.

10. Jennings, John. "Holocaust survivors hit insurers with suit (class action lawsuit accuses eight European insurance firms of failure to honor policies)". National Underwriter Life & Health - Financial Services 101, no.14(April 7, 1997): 1+.
Note: Holocaust survivors and heirs filed a class action suit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on behalf of a dozen plaintiffs charging the insurers with refusing to honor billions of dollars in claims on policies purchased by Jews and other Nazi victims.
Filed in Library at J3.

11. "Jewish genealogists urged to help document claims". Underwriters Report(July 16, 1998): 3.
Note: Volunteer genealogists are being aksed to help an international investigation unearth owners and heirs of lost WWII assets.

12. Johnson, Dennis. "Insurance "archaeologists" reviewing Holocaust claims". Agence France Presse(December 10, 1997).
Note: Risk International, an "insurance archaeology" company that tracks down lost insurance policies and records, has found a 1941 Nazi form letter used routinely to claim benefits due relatives of Holocaust victims. Holocaust survivors and heirs met with Risk International and state insurance commissioners in Seattle, Washington, to determine how to collect on 50-year-old claims denied by European insurers.
Filed in Library at J4.

13. Johnston, David Cay. "Archives boost Holocaust insurance claims". News & Observer (Raleigh, NC) 21, no.21(January 12, 1998).
Note: Archival findings show that Allianz AG, the biggest German insurance company, cooperated with the Nazis to seize policies owned by Jews, expand the role of Allianz AG in occupied countries, and limit claims resulting from Nazi-orchestrated riots. Risk International, a Houston insurance research firm, has found archival records that show a collusion between insurance companies and the Nazi government to loot assets. A spokesperson for Allianz AG suggested that reparations the German government made to survivors and their relatives after the war settled all claims.
Filed in Library at J2.

14. Levin, Amanda. "Holocaust insurance issue gains momentum". National Underwriter 103, no.3(January 18. 1999): 34+.
Note: Resolution of the Holocaust-era insurance issue is being pursued through the courts, legislation, and regulation. An International Commission is working to bring together the key players on both sides of the Atlantic. Already European insurers conducting business in the United States have agreed to establish a $90 million humanitarian fund to add survivors.
Filed in Library at L12.

15. Levin, Itamar. The last chapter of the Holocaust? The struggle over the restitution of Jewish property in Europe. Revised ed. Jewish Agency for Israel and the World Jewish Restitution Organization, 1998. 208 pp.
Note: Levin, Journalist and Deputy Editor of the "Globes", Israel's business newspaper, has been reporting for several years on the property looting that took place during WWII. This book is about the struggle for the restoration of Jewish property in Europe; the second edition reports on the significant developments that have occurred during the past year including: the Swiss banking settlements, acknowledgment of the property seized by the Custodian of Enemy Property in the UK, and progress in Norway and France on the issue. Art and insurance are now being looked at more closely. Levin's chapters cover different topics and different countries - all related to restitution.

16. Ostermiller, Marilyn and Caroline Saucer. "Righting a five-decade wrong". Best's Review 98, no.12(April 1998): 56-62.
Note: Holocaust survivors and heirs found advocates willing to help resolve the problem of unpaid insurance claims dating from the Holocaust. The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) and a number of law firms have filed a class-action lawsuit. A promising proposal to resolve the issue seems to be the establishment of an oversight commission to examine European insurers records. The NAIC is acting to collect information on Holocaust claims, according to the authors.
Filed in National Archives Library at O1.

17. Pulverman, Heinz J. "Nazi insurance frauds still reverberate". Underwriters' Report(January 1, 1998): 5.
Note: A review of the confusion faced by insurance companies attempting to address the claims of Holocaust victims and their families.
Filed in Library at N10.
Online: http://www.uwreport.com/wire/news0198/0101hol.htm.

18. Pulverman, Heinz J. "Allianz officials discuss Holocaust victim claims". Underwriters' Report(January 29, 1998): 3.
Note: The Allianz Insurance Company has sent Underwriters Report a 24-page outline tracking the process of trying to obtain settlements for life insurance policies of Nazi victims.

19. "Quackenbush shocked by access to Generali files". Underwriters' Report(January 29, 1998): 4.
Note: California Insurance Commissioner Quackenbush expressed shock that Yad Veshem, the Holocaust museum, has only recently been granted access to A. Generali's archives of policies stored in Italy. It is estimated that Generali wrote most of the life and property insurance policies issued to Eastern and Central Holocaust victims.

20. Statement of Herbert Hansmeyer, Member of the Board of Management, Allianz AG. Washington: U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, 1998. 5 pp. (Statement of Ukrainian position at the Washington Conference on Holocaust-Era Assets).
Note: Allianz AG is participating in the International Commission chaired by Secretary Eagleburger in the pursuit of clarity on the issue of Holocaust-era insurance claims. According to the speaker, the many unpaid insurance claims were a surprise to Allianz AG management who thought that claims had been settled at the end of WWII.
Filed in Library at H42.

21. Sullivan, Steven. "Marta's list: the pursuit of Holocaust survivors' lost insurance claims". Contingencies 10, no.4(July-August 1998): 18-25.
Note: Insurance policies were the poor man's Swiss bank account in Europe before World War II, accounting for billions of dollars in benefits. In the wake of the Holocaust, only a fraction of that money was paid out. What happened to the rest? Now, more than than 50 years later, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners is spearheading an effort to find out. Before it's too late. (Journal summary).
Filed in Library at S22.
Online: www.archives.gov//research/holocaust/articles-and-papers/symposium-
papers/pursuit-of-survivors-lost-insurance-claims.html.

22. Testimony before Texas Department of Insurance regarding recovery of insurance claims by holocaust policyholders and their heirs. Risk International, 1998. Vol. Houston, TX.
Note: Testimony of Terrel E. Hunt, president of Risk International Services, regarding the Holocaust-era insurance industry in Europe. The testimony focuses on archival documents recently located in Moscow which evidence insurance company complicity with the Nazis in confiscating or denying Jewish insurance benefits. The documents, seized at the end of WWII, by the Red Army, provide a picture of the treatment of Jewish insurance assets by the Nazi government and insurance organizations.

23. Young, Eric. "Fighting denial Jewish groups seek payments from European insurance companies that wrote policies for Holocaust victims". Sacramento Bee (California) 21, no.22(January 1, 1998): Business section.
Note: California Insurance Commision hearings into the denial of payments to Holocaust survivors and heirs has given individuals the opportunity to press their claims.
Filed in Library at Y1.

24. "Zurich first to agree to resolve Holocaust claims". Underwriters Report(August 20, 1998): 4.
Note: The Zurich Insurance Company is the first European company to join US state insurance regulators in signing a memorandum-of-understanding to provide restitution for Holocaust victims and their heirs.

25. "Zurich running ads on Holocaust insurance issue". Underwriters Report(August 6, 1998): 5.
Note: The Zurich Insurance Company is launching an advertising campaign in the US to encourage insurance claims from Holocaust victims and heirs.