Prior to and during the Holocaust, members of the Jewish communities
throughout Europe purchased insurance policies, including life,
education, and dowry, to provide for their families. As a result
of the Second World War, many of these policies were lost or
destroyed and still remain unpaid. For over half a century, there
has been no systematic process for identifying the status of
these policies or assisting beneficiaries in obtaining payments.
In late 1998, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners
(NAIC), in conjunction with several European insurance companies,
representatives of Jewish organizations, and the State of Israel,
established the International Commission on Holocaust Era Insurance
Claims (ICHEIC).
A process was established to provide a central source for information
on, investigation into, and the payment of outstanding Holocaust
era insurance claims. In addition, assistance was made available
to Holocaust victims and their heirs to help them understand
the process and complete the claim forms.
Understandably, most Holocaust victims and their heirs now have
little or no documentation to establish the existence of insurance
policies; they may not even know whether their relatives were
indeed, insured.
However, as a result of the work of the ICHEIC, many individuals
were able to recover the proceeds of their relatives’ insurance
policies in effect at that time. The Claims Resolution Process
established by the ICHEIC employed relaxed standards of proof
and processed claims with little or no supporting documentation.
ICHEIC claims and appeals processes have closed.
ICHEIC ceased accepting new claim forms/applications on March
31, 2004. As of December 2006, all timely filed claims received
a final decision through the ICHEIC process. |