The importance of publication of accountholder names may not be clear to those who have not worked with survivors of the Holocaust on a daily basis. Claimants are confronted on a daily basis by the simple physical impossibility of asking those who perished. When family, friends and neighbors are murdered, the truth of the matter is, the publication of names is often the only way to connect a claimant with a deceased family member's account. On this point, I would only like to suggest that the publication be done in a manner that is as user friendly as possible. Potential claimants must be permitted to examine complete lists of these 26,000 names and any Internet capabilities must contain a feature that allows for the browsing of names.
Widespread publication is a critical component of the claims process.
The widespread publication of 5,570 names in July and October of 1997 seems to have been fairly successful and the experiences of those two publications should be examined and used as a basis for any mechanism created for the publication of the 26,000 names. In the same vein, it is critical that the publication date be soon. The HCPO has gone from losing a claimant a week to almost double that number in the past year. As you already recognize, time is of the essence. I want to commend Special Masters Volcker and Bradfield for your commitment to this issue, if it were not for your work, the work of ICEP, we would not be in the position we are today to potentially help so many people.