I

105TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 4826

To provide victims of the Holocaust access to their insurance policies.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

OCTOBER 13, 1998

Mr. SHERMAN (for himself, Mr. LANTOS, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. YATES, Mr.

WAXMAN, and Mr. FROST) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Commerce, and in addition to the Committee

on International Relations, for a period to be subsequently determined by

the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

A BILL

To provide victims of the Holocaust access to their insurance

policies.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Holocaust Victim In5 surance Relief Act of 1998’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 Congress makes the following findings:

8 (1) During World War II, 6,000,000 victims of

9 the Holocaust lost their lives and property.
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1 (2) In addition to the many atrocities that be2 fell the victims of the Nazi regime, many of the in3 surance claims that rightfully should have been paid

4 to the victims and their families were not.

5 (3) In many instances, insurance company

6 records are the only proof of the existence of these

7 insurance policies belonging to Holocaust victims.

8 (4) Many Holocaust survivors and their de9 scendants have been fighting for 50 years to per10 suade insurance companies to settle unpaid claims.

11 (5) Holocaust survivors and families of victims

12 have asked that insurance companies disclose any in13 formation they possess that could show proof of in14 surance policies held by Holocaust victims and sur15 vivors.

16 (6) Insurance companies doing business in the

17 United States have a responsibility to ensure that

18 any involvement they or their related companies may

19 have had with insurance policies of Holocaust vic20 tims are disclosed to the Federal Government and to

21 ensure the rapid resolution of these questions, elimi22 nating the further victimization of these policy23 holders and their families.

24 (7) The international Jewish community is ne25 gotiating with responsible insurance companies to
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1 establish an international commission to resolve the

2 issue of outstanding insurance claims.

3 SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF HOLOCAUST INSURANCE REG4 ISTRY.

5 The Secretary of the Treasury, Secretary of State,

6 and Secretary of Commerce shall jointly establish and

7 maintain a central registry containing records and infor8 mation relating to insurance policies of victims, living and

9 deceased, of the Holocaust. The registry shall be known

10 as the Holocaust Insurance Registry and shall be acces11 sible to the public.

12 SEC. 4. FULL DISCLOSURE BY INSURANCE FIRMS.

13 Any insurer currently doing business in the United

14 States that sold life, property, liability, health, annuity,

15 dowry, educational, or casualty insurance policies, directly

16 or through a related company, to persons in Europe, which

17 were in effect between 1920 and 1945, whether the sale

18 occurred before or after the insurer and the related com19 pany became related, shall, within 180 days following the

20 date of the enactment of this Act, file or cause to be filed

21 the following information with the Departments of the

22 Treasury, State, or Commerce to be entered into the Holo23 caust Insurance Registry:

24 (1) The number of such insurance policies.
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1 (2) The holder, beneficiary, and current status

2 of such policies.

3 (3) A comparison of the names of holders and

4 beneficiaries of such policies and the names of the

5 victims of the Holocaust.

6 The names of victims of the Holocaust shall be provided

7 by the Department of State and may additionally be ob8 tained from the Yad Vashem repository in Israel.

9 SEC. 5. CERTIFICATION BY INSURANCE COMPANIES.

10 Each insurer subject to section 4 shall certify under

11 penalty of perjury to any of the following:

12 (1) The proceeds of the policies described in

13 section 4 have been paid to the designated bene14 ficiaries or their heirs where that person or persons,

15 after diligent search, could be located and identified.

16 (2) The proceeds of the policies where the bene17 ficiaries or heirs could not, after diligent search, be

18 located or identified, have been distributed to Holo19 caust survivors or to qualified charitable nonprofit

20 organizations for the purpose of assisting Holocaust

21 survivors.

22 (3) A court of law has certified in a legal pro23 ceeding resolving the rights of unpaid policyholders,

24 their heirs, and beneficiaries, a plan for the distribu25 tion of the proceeds.
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1 (4) The proceeds have not been distributed and

2 the amount of those proceeds.

3 An insurer currently doing business in the United States

4 that did not sell any insurance policies in Europe prior

5 to 1945, shall not be subject to this section if a related

6 company, whether or not authorized and currently doing

7 business in the United States, has made a filing under

8 this section.

9 SEC. 6. PENALTIES FOR FAILURE TO DISCLOSE INFORMA10 TION.

11 (a) IN GENERAL.—Any insurer that knowingly files

12 information required by this Act that is false shall be lia13 ble for a civil penalty not to exceed $5,000 for each viola14 tion, which penalty is hereby appropriated to the Depart15 ments of Treasury, State, and Commerce to be used to

16 aid in the resolution of Holocaust insurance claims.

17 (b) SUSPENSION.—Any insurance company that fails

18 to comply with the requirements of this Act by the 210th

19 day after the date of the enactment of this Act, shall be

20 suspended from practicing in the insurance business until

21 the time that the insurer complies with this Act.

22 (c) REGULATION.—The Secretary of the Treasury,

23 Secretary of State, and Secretary of Commerce shall joint24 ly adopt regulations to implement this Act.
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1 SEC. 7. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

2 It is the sense of Congress that outstanding claims

3 under insurance policies held by Holocaust victims and

4 survivors be resolved at the earliest possible time.

5 SEC. 8. DEFINITIONS.

6 For purposes of this Act:

7 (1) The term ‘‘Holocaust victim’’ means any

8 person who was persecuted during the period of

9 1929 to 1945, inclusive, by Nazi Germany, its allies,

10 or sympathizers.

11 (2) The term ‘‘related company’’ means any

12 parent, subsidiary, reinsurer, successor in interest,

13 managing general agent, or affiliate company of the

14 insurer.

15 (3) The term ‘‘proceeds’’ means the face value

16 or other payout value of insurance policies and an17 nuities plus reasonable interest to date of payment

18 without diminution for wartime or immediate post19 war currency devaluation.

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