Holocaust Compensation

According to the International Commission on Holocaust Era Insurance Claims' final report, "306.24 million was offered or awarded to more than 48,000 claimants."

The ICHEIC, created in 1998, aimed to make sure insurance companies were sticking to their commitment to process and pay World War II-era claims.

"I fully recognize that no amount of compensation can redress the suffering inflicted during the Holocaust," said the commission's chairman, former US Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger.

"Nevertheless, I believe that ICHEIC has achieved its goal of bringing a small measure of justice to those who have been denied it for so long," his statement said.

Helping victims with their claims

The ICHEIC grouped representatives of several dozen European insurance companies with US insurance regulators, Israeli officials and Jewish groups whose goal was to help victims of the Nazi concentration camps obtain unpaid insurance claims.

More than 90,000 people were able to file free requests for compensation, with more than half receiving some sort of payout.

Slightly more than 14,000 victims shared an overall sum of 238 million dollars from insurance companies, while 2,900 people from central and eastern Europe whose insurance companies closed after World War II received 30 million dollars.

The ICHEIC distributed another 31 million dollars between 31,000 victims whose claims were deemed credible but could not be substantiated due to "the ravages of war and the passage of time."