S. HRG. 110–759 HOLOCAUST ERA INSURANCE RESTITUTION AFTER ICHEIC HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL OPERATIONS AND ORGANIZATIONS, DEMOCRACY AND HUMAN RIGHTS OF THE COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS UNITED STATES SENATE ONE HUNDRED TENTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION MAY 6, 2008 Printed for the use of the Committee on Foreign Relations ( Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.gpoaccess.gov/congress/index.html U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 47–851 PDF WASHINGTON : 2009 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2104 Mail: Stop IDCC, Washington, DC 20402–0001 VerDate Nov 24 2008 11:21 Mar 17, 2009 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 5011 Sfmt 5011 H:\DOCS\47851.TXT MikeBB PsN: MIKEB COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS JOSEPH R. BIDEN, JR., Delaware, Chairman CHRISTOPHER J. DODD, Connecticut RICHARD G. LUGAR, Indiana JOHN F. KERRY, Massachusetts CHUCK HAGEL, Nebraska RUSSELL D. FEINGOLD, Wisconsin NORM COLEMAN, Minnesota BARBARA BOXER, California BOB CORKER, Tennessee BILL NELSON, Florida GEORGE V. VOINOVICH, Ohio BARACK OBAMA, Illinois LISA MURKOWSKI, Alaska ROBERT MENENDEZ, New Jersey JIM DEMINT, South Carolina BENJAMIN L. CARDIN, Maryland JOHNNY ISAKSON, Georgia ROBERT P. CASEY, JR., Pennsylvania DAVID VITTER, Louisiana JIM WEBB, Virginia JOHN BARRASSO, Wyoming ANTONY J. BLINKEN, Staff Director KENNETH A. MYERS, JR., Republican Staff Director —————— SUBCOMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL OPERATIONS AND ORGANIZATIONS, DEMOCRACY AND HUMAN RIGHTS BILL NELSON, Florida, Chairman RUSSELL D. FEINGOLD, Wisconsin DAVID VITTER, Louisiana ROBERT MENENDEZ, New Jersey GEORGE V. VOINOVICH, Ohio ROBERT P. CASEY, JR., Pennsylvania JIM DEMINT, South Carolina JIM WEBB, Virginia JOHN BARRASSO, Wyoming (II) VerDate Nov 24 2008 11:21 Mar 17, 2009 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 H:\DOCS\47851.TXT MikeBB PsN: MIKEB CONTENTS Page Cardin, Hon. Benjamin, U.S. Senator From Maryland ........................................ 6 Coleman, Hon. Norm, U.S. Senator From Minnesota .......................................... 5 Dubbin, Samuel J., Partner, Dubbin & Kravetz, LLP, Miami, FL ...................... 62 Prepared statement ...................................................................................... 63 Eagleburger, Hon. Lawrence, Former Secretary of State and Former Chair- man, International Commission on Holocaust Era Insurance Claims (ICHEIC), Charlottesville, VA ............................................................................. 32 Prepared statement ...................................................................................... 34 Eizenstat, Hon. Stuart E., Partner, Covington & Burling LLP and Former Special Representative of the President and Secretary Of State on Holo- caust Issues, Washington, DC ............................................................................. 43 Prepared statement ...................................................................................... 45 Kent, Roman, Holocaust Survivor and Chairman, American Gathering of Holocaust Survivors and Their Descendants, New York, NY .......................... 7 Prepared statement ...................................................................................... 9 Menendez, Hon. Robert, U.S. Senator From New Jersey .................................... 30 Nelson, Hon. Bill, U.S. Senator From Florida ....................................................... 1 Rosenbaum, Thane, John Whelen Distinguished Lecturer in Law, Fordham University School of Law, New York, NY .......................................................... 53 Prepared statement ...................................................................................... 56 Rubin, Anna B., Director, New York Holocaust Claims Processing Office, New York State Banking Department, New York, NY ..................................... 86 Prepared statement ...................................................................................... 87 Rubin, Jack, Holocaust Survivor and Member of the Advisory Committee, Holocaust Survivors Of West Palm Beach, Boynton Beach, FL ....................... 14 Prepared statement ...................................................................................... 16 APPENDIXES Appendix I.—Responses to Additional Questions Submitted for the Record by Members of the Committee Questions Submitted by Senator Bill Nelson Responses From Jack Rubin ............................................................................ 107 Responses From Samuel J. Dubbin ................................................................ 109 Response From Thane Rosenbaum ................................................................. 117 Responses From Roman Kent .......................................................................... 118 Responses From Hon. Lawrence Eagleburger ................................................ 123 Responses From Anna B. Rubin ...................................................................... 129 Questions Submitted by Senator David Vitter Response From Hon. Lawrence Eagleburger ................................................. 132 (III) VerDate Nov 24 2008 11:21 Mar 17, 2009 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 H:\DOCS\47851.TXT MikeBB PsN: MIKEB IV Page Appendix II.—Additional Material Submitted for the Record Prepared Statement of Hon. David Vitter, U.S. Senator From Louisiana ......... 135 Material Submitted by Organizations and Individuals in Support of HR 1746 Members of the Florida Congressional Delegation ........................................ 136 Sidney Zabludoff ............................................................................................... 138 The Organization of Forced Laborers Under the Nazi Occupation, Tel- Aviv, Israel .................................................................................................... 141 Generations of the Shoah International (GSI) ............................................... 142 On Behalf of The David Family, Milwaukee, WI ........................................... 143 Material Submitted by Organizations and Individuals in Opposition to HR 1746 The Anti-Defamation League, B’nai B’rith, and Others ................................ 145 Rabbi Andrew Baker of the American Jewish Committee, Department of International Jewish Affairs .................................................................... 146 Rabbi Abba Cohen of Agudath Israel of America .......................................... 147 Robert A. Swift, Attorney, Kohn, Swift & Graf, P.C. .................................... 148 Waite, Schneider, Bayless & Chesley Co., L.P.A. .......................................... 150 Appendix III.—Material Submitted by Anna B. Rubin, Director, Holocaust Claims Processing Office, New York State Banking Department Section 1.—New York State Banking Department HPCO Annual Report ......... 151 Section 2.—Overview of the Interwar Economy and the European Insurance Industry ................................................................................................................ 179 Section 3.—Correspondence Between NAIC and New York ................................ 185 Section 4.—Additional Material Submitted by Ms. Rubin ................................... 187 VerDate Nov 24 2008 11:21 Mar 17, 2009 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 H:\DOCS\47851.TXT MikeBB PsN: MIKEB HOLOCAUST ERA INSURANCE RESTITUTION AFTER ICHEIC TUESDAY, MAY 6, 2008 U.S. SENATE, SUBCOMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL OPERATIONS AND ORGANIZATIONS, DEMOCRACY AND HUMAN RIGHTS, COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS, Washington, DC. The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 2:27 p.m., in room SD–419, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Bill Nelson, pre- siding. Present: Senators Bill Nelson, Menendez, Cardin, and Coleman. OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. BILL NELSON, U.S. SENATOR FROM FLORIDA Senator Bill NELSON. Good afternoon and welcome. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee is meeting to consider a difficult but extremely important issue, compensating Holocaust survivors and their heirs for the value of Holocaust-era United States insurance policies that they held before the war, but were lost or had stolen from them by various entities, including the Nazi regime. This afternoon I have just been informed that we will have two recorded votes called by the Senate at 2:30. It is my intention to go ahead and start the meeting and get as far as we can until I have to recess the committee to get over there to vote. I will vote on both of those and come back immediately and resume the hear- ing. This is the first time a Senate committee has met specifically to consider Holocaust-era compensation issues. I’ve been involved with this issue for more than a decade. In my former life as Flor- ida’s elected insurance commissioner in the nineties, I was part of an international effort by regulators in the 50 States, as well as Jewish groups, that ultimately forced many European insurers to come to the table and for the first time begin paying restitution to survivors. Florida is a State with a large population of Holocaust survivors, one of the largest concentration of Holocaust survivors in the world. The three States that have the highest degree of concentra- tion of survivors are New York, Florida, and California. Most are in their eighties or nineties. The youngest are in their seventies. They are extremely valuable citizens that we honor and, while no amount of financial