ZURICH, Feb. 23 (JTA) — American pressure is mounting on Swiss insurance companies to make good on unpaid policies from the Holocaust era. The row intensified this week after Swiss insurers argued that domestic laws bar them from opening up their books regarding the insurance policies taken out by Holocaust victims. U.S. insurance officials, in turn, have accused Swiss insurers of blocking access to their archives to cover up their behavior during World War II. The National Association of Insurance Commissioners has been holding a series of hearings across the United States to seek out Holocaust survivors and the heirs of victims who have not received payouts from insurance policies held during World War II. The officials are investigating claims that European insurance firms blocked payments to the families of death camp victims. Deborah Senn, president of the commissioners group, threatened to send American inspectors to Switzerland. “We see a legal basis for investigations in Switzerland because these companies also operate in the U.S.,” Senn said in an interview published here. The efforts of her group are significant for European insurers because the American officials have regulatory power over the American affiliates and subsidiaries of the targeted European insurance companies. In a reflection of how seriously Swiss officials take the issue, the Foreign Ministry will soon be dispatching Ambassador Thomas Borer to Washington for meetings with the U.S. insurance officials. Borer, who has served as Switzerland’s point man on issues relating to the country’s wartime activities, spent much of last year dealing with accusations that Swiss banks had close financial ties to the Nazis and hoarded the contents of long-dormant bank accounts opened by Holocaust victims. “We are setting up meetings with U.S. officials to discuss ways of solving this problem. We are trying to establish dialogue,” said a Swiss Foreign Ministry spokeswoman. Last year, a group of Holocaust victims and their families filed a class-action lawsuit against seven European insurance companies, alleging they withheld, concealed or converted the proceeds of policies sold before 1946. The experiences of many of the claimants parallel those of depositors trying to collect on dormant Swiss bank accounts, but the sums at stake may be much larger. Lawyers for the survivors estimate that the class-action lawsuit, now pending in New York federal court, could affect 10,000 claimants and involve billions of dollars in damages.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
