10 | APRIL 29 • 2021 

guest column
Holocaust Victims and Heirs Seek Justice 
from Defiant Global Insurance Companies
T

he financial dam-
age caused to Jewish 
families during the 
Holocaust continues to be felt, 
especially by more than 25,000 
survivors in the 
United States 
who live in pov-
erty. To date, 
only 3% of the 
nearly 800,000 
insurance poli-
cies paid for by 
Jews during the 
Holocaust have been honored, 
due primarily to intentional 
obstruction by global insur-
ance companies and loopholes 
in the U.S. legal system.
Fortunately, there is biparti-
san legislation under consider-
ation by Congress which will 
provide much needed assis-
tance to tackle this ongoing 
injustice. 
On April 13, Rep. Debbie 
Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) 
and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), 
along with several co-spon-
sors, introduced the Holocaust 
Insurance Accountability Act 
of 2021.
The bill provides Holocaust 
victims (both survivors and 
slain, and their beneficia-
ries and heirs) who held 
insurance policies issued in 
Nazi-controlled territory (or 
Switzerland) between Jan. 31, 
1933, and Dec. 31, 1945, the 
right to file a lawsuit seeking 
insurance proceeds in U.S. fed-
eral courts.
In addition, the law provides 
a renewed 10-year statute of 
limitations to bring claims, 

plus the right to receive 6% 
yearly prejudgment interest, 
attorney’s fees and costs, and 
treble (3x) damages if there is 
proof the insurer acted in bad 
faith.

BIPARTISAN SUPPORT
The overwhelming bipartisan 
support for the new law is a 
reflection of the moral con-
sensus that Holocaust victims 
and their families “should be 
the heirs to unpaid policies 
that were set aside for times of 
trouble — not the insurance 
companies,” as Rep. Schultz 
explained. Elected legislators 
have an obligation to “do 
everything we can to support 
survivors and their families,” 
echoed Sen. Rubio, especially 
removing legal barriers to 
lawsuits being filed in federal 
courts. 
The vital legislation has 
gained the support of many 
Jewish organizations across the 
country because it “will allow 
survivors, and our children 
and grandchildren, to recover 

our family histories and lega-
cies [and] expose details about 
the insurers’ history of collab-
oration with Nazi authorities” 
according to David Schaecter, 
president of the Holocaust 
Survivors Foundation USA.

ASSISTING VICTIMS
As president emeritus of 
the Jewish Bar Association 
of Michigan and leader of 
the Holocaust Art Recovery 
Initiative, I have helped many 
survivors and their families 
who faced an uphill battle 
seeking a return of their stolen 
property. The injustices caused 
during the Holocaust era and 
the years that followed are fur-
ther compounded when U.S. 
courts, which often provide the 
only real path to justice, are 
closed to claims. 
 The Holocaust Insurance 
Accountability Act of 2021 is 
an essential tool in the effort to 
help right the historic wrong 
done to the Jewish people and 
provide a viable path to recov-
ery for so many Jewish families 

who have been wrongfully 
denied insurance proceeds for 
so many years.
I encourage all members 
of the Metro Detroit Jewish 
community to join with me 
in supporting the passage 
of the Holocaust Insurance 
Accountability Act of 2021. 
Please contact your elected 
federal representatives and 
explain to them the impor-
tance of voting for this bipar-
tisan bill. Legislators have a 
special opportunity to help 
address this ongoing injustice, 
and they should be confident 
that voting in favor of the bill 
is the right thing to do. 
Afterward, we begin the hard 
work of pursuing lawsuits to 
obtain recovery against global 
insurance companies who have 
reaped the benefits from their 
ill-gotten gains for decades. 
I look forward to assisting 
with that effort, which has the 
potential of creating dramatic 
change in the lives of Holocaust 
survivors and their descendants, 
including in our Metro Detroit 
Jewish community. 
It is long past time for us 
to tackle this problem, and 
passage of the Holocaust 
Insurance Accountability Act 
of 2021 is the next necessary 
step to finally help do it. 

Attorney Jonathan H. Schwartz is a 

partner at Jaffe Raitt Heuer & Weiss, 

P.C. in Southfield and a member 

of the firm’s diversity and inclusion 

committee. He is the recipient of the 

Jewish Federation of Metropolitan 

Detroit’s 2021 Frank A. Wetsman Young 

Leadership Award.

Jonathan H. 
Schwartz

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