I 
112TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 890 
To allow for the enforcement of State disclosure laws and access to courts 
for covered Holocaust-era insurance policy claims. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 2, 2011 
Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN (for herself and Mr. DEUTCH) introduced the following 
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in ad-
dition to the Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently 
determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provi-
sions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To allow for the enforcement of State disclosure laws and 
access to courts for covered Holocaust-era insurance pol-
icy claims. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Holocaust Insurance 
Accountability Act of 2011’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
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(1) The Holocaust, an event in which millions 
of people endured enormous suffering through tor-
ture and other violence, including the murder of 
6,000,000 Jews and millions of others, the destruc-
tion of families and communities, and the theft of 
their assets, was one of the most heinous crimes in 
human history. 
(2) Before and during World War II, millions 
of people purchased insurance policies to safeguard 
family assets, plan for retirement, provide for a 
dowry, or save for their children’s education. 
(3) When Holocaust survivors and heirs and 
beneficiaries of Holocaust victims presented claims 
to insurance companies after World War II, many 
were rejected because they did not have death cer-
tificates or physical possession of policy documents 
that had been confiscated by the Nazis or lost in the 
devastation of the Holocaust. 
(4) In many instances, insurance company 
records and records in government archives are the 
only proof of the existence of insurance policies be-
longing to Holocaust victims. 
(5) Holocaust survivors and heirs and bene-
ficiaries of Holocaust victims have been attempting 
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for decades to persuade insurance companies to set-
tle unpaid insurance claims. 
(6) In 1998, the International Commission on 
Holocaust Era Insurance Claims (in this section re-
ferred to as ‘‘ICHEIC’’) was established by the Na-
tional Association of Insurance Commissioners in co-
operation with several European insurance compa-
nies, European regulators, the Government of Israel, 
and nongovernmental organizations with the promise 
that it would expeditiously address the issue of un-
paid insurance policies issued to Holocaust victims. 
(7) On July 17, 2000, the United States and 
Germany signed an executive agreement in support 
of the German Foundation ‘‘Remembrance, Respon-
sibility, and the Future’’, which designated ICHEIC 
to resolve all Holocaust-era insurance policies issued 
by German companies and their subsidiaries. 
(8) On January 17, 2001, the United States 
and Austria signed an executive agreement, which 
designated ICHEIC to resolve all Holocaust-era in-
surance policies issued by Austrian companies and 
their subsidiaries. 
(9) The ICHEIC process ended in 2007 and 
companies holding Holocaust-era insurance policies 
continue to withhold names of owners and bene-
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ficiaries of thousands of insurance policies sold to 
Jewish customers prior to World War II. 
(10) Experts estimate that only a small fraction 
of the policies estimated to have been sold to Jews 
living in Europe at the beginning of World War II 
have been paid through ICHEIC. 
(11) In American Insurance Association, Inc., 
v. Garamendi, the United States Supreme Court 
held that under the supremacy clause of the Con-
stitution of the United States, executive agreements 
and executive foreign policy calling for insurance 
claims against German and Austrian companies to 
be handled within ICHEIC preempted State laws 
authorizing State insurance commissioners to sub-
poena company records and require publication of 
the names of Holocaust era policy holders. 
(12) In the Garamendi case, the Supreme 
Court stated that Congress, which has the power to 
regulate international commerce and prescribe Fed-
eral court jurisdiction, had not addressed disclosure 
and restitution of insurance policies of Holocaust 
victims. 
(13) Subsequent court decisions have dismissed 
Holocaust-era insurance claims brought against an 
Italian insurance company, even though there is no 
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executive agreement between the United States and 
Italy. 
(14) Congress supports the rights of Holocaust 
survivors and the heirs and beneficiaries of Holo-
caust victims to obtain information from insurers 
and to bring legal actions in courts, wherever juris-
diction requirements are met, to recover unpaid 
funds from entities that participated in the theft of 
family insurance assets or the affiliates of such enti-
ties. 
(15) Congress intends for this Act to establish 
a Federal private right of action to allow Holocaust 
survivors and heirs and beneficiaries of victims to re-
cover under their covered Holocaust-era insurance 
policies, and to allow for State causes of action and 
disclosure requirement laws regarding Holocaust-era 
insurance policies to be valid and not preempted. 
(16) This Act expresses the intent of Congress 
to deem valid State laws protecting the rights of 
Holocaust survivors and the heirs and beneficiaries 
of Holocaust victims to obtain information from in-
surers and to bring actions in courts of proper juris-
diction to recover unpaid funds from entities that 
participated in the theft of family insurance assets 
or the affiliates of such entities. 
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(17) Insurance payments should be expedited to 
the victims of the most heinous crime of the 20th 
century to ensure that justice is served. 
(18) This Act will enable Holocaust survivors 
and heirs and beneficiaries of Holocaust victims to 
obtain compensation commensurate with the real 
monetary value of their losses. 
(19) Under the circumstances faced by Holo-
caust victims and their families, courts should be 
open to Holocaust survivors and heirs and bene-
ficiaries of Holocaust victims for a reasonable num-
ber of years after the enactment of this Act, without 
regard to any other statutes of limitation. 
SEC. 3. PRIVATE RIGHT OF ACTION. 
(a) CIVIL ACTIONS TO RECOVER UNDER COVERED 
POLICIES.—Any person who purchased a covered policy, 
or a beneficiary or heir of such person, may bring a civil 
action, in the appropriate United States district court, 
against the insurer for the covered policy or a related com-
pany of the insurer, to recover proceeds due under the cov-
ered policy or otherwise to enforce any rights under the 
covered policy. 
(b) NATIONWIDE SERVICE OF PROCESS.—For a civil 
action brought under subsection (a), process may be 
served in the judicial district where the case is brought 
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