For St. John, the main issue is sending a message that the Nazis 'can't get away with it'

November 10, 1999
Web posted at: 12:32 a.m. EST (0532 GMT)

In this story: 'They kept very good records' Wiesenthal Center launches Web site RELATED STORIES, SITES

From Correspondent Siobhan Darrow

LOS ANGELES (CNN) -- California is threatening to revoke the licenses of more than 70 insurance companies that are branches of European insurance giants accused of withholding Holocaust survivors' claims.

Some survivors remember Kristallnacht, the Nazi rampage 61 years ago that destroyed Jewish property and set the stage for the Holocaust.

"The hordes started to run on the streets, broke into the stores," said Dorrit St. John, who was 14 years old that night in Vienna, Austria.

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"As a child, I saw the guns -- the machine guns -- pointing at you ... and feeling the coldness of it against your neck."

She managed to flee to the United States a few months later, but her family lost everything, including her father's clothing shops.

Now, decades later, she hopes to reclaim some of what was lost.

"It's not the money," says St. John, "It is strictly the idea -- you have to do something -- they couldn't get away with it"

The Nazis required every Jew in Vienna to fill out a form claiming all their assets.

"Persian carpets, our silver," notes St. John. Her form also shows seven different insurance policies.

Frank Kaplan represents the state of California in its efforts to help survivors recover their claims.

'They kept very good records'

"They kept very good records. We even have records relating to insurance issued for concentration camps, insuring Auschwitz," said Kaplan, counsel for the California Insurance Commission.

Dozens of European-based insurance companies have been threatened with having their licenses revoked if they don't pay the Holocaust-era claims.

"They are going to have to understand, to continue to do business in California they are going to have to comply with California law, and that means full and complete disclosure," said California Insurance Commissioner Chuck Quackenbush.

Allianz, one of the world's largest insurance companies, is on California's list.

Allianz said it settled most of the claims before World War II, and that after the war the company participated in German restitution and reparation agreements.

"Every justified claim has been and will continue to be acknowledged and paid," Allianz told CNN. "As an insurance company, trust remains the core of our business."

Wiesenthal Center launches Web site

The Simon Wiesenthal Center is joining the state of California in asking the insurance companies to turn over all the lists of policy holders.

The center launched a new Web site, listing all the names it could find in European government archives.

"If we can do it with no help, imagine how quickly we can move forward on this issue with a little cooperation," said the center's Rabbi Abraham Cooper.

Survivors have little time to wait. St. John is in her 70s, most others in their 80s.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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