 | Under Secretary Stuart Eizenstat Presentation at the Washington Conference on Holocaust-Era Assets, Washington, DC, December 2, 1998 |
The Need for Others to Join the International Commission
On Holocaust Era Insurance ClaimsWe commend the six insurers that have voluntarily agreed to join the International Commission: Allianz, Generali, AXA, Zurich, Winterthur, and Basler.
These companies are fully committed to the IC process and are also supporting our goals here at the Washington Conference. These companies recognize the importance of our work here today, particularly with respect to assuring prompt justice for Holocaust survivors. The companies are also committed to open archives.
However, these six companies together are not the only companies that sold policies during the Holocaust era. Indeed, these companies estimate their market share from that era to be about 30% of the total.
The Washington Conference should encourage other insurers to join the IC process. In this regard, we welcome the informal expressions of interest by some central and east European governments in IC. The interest of these governments is further evidence of their commitment to modernize and adapt their laws and markets to Western norms.
In addition, we hope that Austrian insurance companies, which are not represented on the International Commission at this time, will also join this process.
In this regard, Lawrence Eagleburger, the Chairman of the International Commission, has indicated that he will be traveling to Vienna and to central and east European capitals to encourage others to join this process.
The U.S. Government strongly supports this effort by Chairman Eagleburger. I hope delegations here today will assure that former Secretary Eagleburger is received at the highest level in your capitals.
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