Project Last Chance

For justice and compensations from the insurance companies for Holocaust survivors

As years pass by and the Holocaust survivors' generation and witnesses will soon disappear, chances to retrieve Jewish property and rights will also diminish.

Since the Holocaust and during the past decades, several organizations have valiantly fought to retrieve Jewish property which has been lost during the dark era of the Holocaust. Despite some achievements, most Jewish property which has been looted or lost has never been recovered. Only a fraction of Jewish assets and rights have been reinstated or reimbursed. During the last years, the effort is gradually diminishing together with growing obstacles posed by some governments to retrieve rights and property.

Efforts to file claims against insurance companies have also been made, with some or little success, led by some organizations such as the International Commission on Holocaust Era Insurance Claims (ICHEIC) and project HEART. However, ICHEIC was limited to start with, experienced several obstacles in implementation, and yielded, according to professional estimates, only a fraction of Holocaust victims’ unpaid insurance policies. Project HEART started with promise but was prematurely ended, leaving thousands of insurance and other claimants frustrated. Currently, to the best of our knowledge, no efforts to file claims against insurance companies that are evading payments to insured, beneficiaries, and their heirs are being made.

Considering this grim situation, and to assist the remaining holocaust survivors and their families, Shurat HaDin decided to use its extensive experience confronting financial organizations around the world to try and retrieve insurance policyholders, their heirs, and their beneficials some of the rights that have been lost.

This may be the last chance to do so.

What does Shurat HaDin intend to do?

We are now opening our 'last chance" website to gather available information and documentation from relevant insured, beneficiaries, or heirs and request their power of attorney, to allow us to represent them before any relevant organizations and insurers. According to gathered information, we will be able to assess the feasibility of legal actions, whether in Israel, the USA, or other countries in the world.

We find it important to note that we cannot pledge to bring any legal actions or lawsuit until sufficient data is collected and legally assessed.

What should I do?

If you are the insured, the beneficiary, or heir of an insurance policyholder - whether life or property insurance - or if you wish to assist such a family member or a survivor who needs your help to apply, please fill out the form on this website.

If you or the relevant person submitted in the past a request to one of the organizations which brought claims regarding insurance policies, such as ICHEIC or the HEART project, we shall approach those organizations and request them to provide us with all relevant information and documentation relevant to the claims.,

it is vital to provide us with all available information and documentation for the reason that recovering data and documents from those organizations, which had seized to act decades ago, may take time and might be even lost.

in addition to the provided information, Shurat HaDin may contact you for further clarifications and documentation. Therefore, cooperation is necessary.

Emphasis:

Please provide all data and documentation in your possession, including:

Personal documentation (passports, birth certificates etc.)
Property and land deeds/registration/proof of ownership.
Insurance policies.
Any documentation of correspondence and previous actions brought.

in case of lack of such documentation, please inform us where such can be found in addition to any lead or information you possess that might prove the existence of relevant insurance policies.

Attachments: Please attach all relevant documents in a bulk (scan all documents into one file or merge PDF files).

If you have any questions as to the project or the online form, please contact our team: Tel. +972-3-7514175 ; Email – info@israellawcenter.org ; Fax: +972-3-7514174

Online form about property and insurance policies

Details of the applicant

First Name

Last Name

Mobile Phone

Address

Full Address

City

Country

Postal Code

A photocopy of the applicant's identity card or passport

Add Document

Name of the insured/beneficiary (who is this application made for)?

Beneficiary First Name:

Beneficiary Last Name:

Your relationship with the insured/beneficiery

Previous Name (If Exists)

Date of Birth

If the applicant resides in Israel or holds Israeli citizenship, please write his name in Hebrew?

Hebrew Last Name

Was there any use of a different date of birth?

In which circumstances?

Nationality & Passport/ID Number:

Last known residence before the war:

Information about the insured/beneficiary during the war:

Is the insured/beneficiary alive?

If not alive, what's the date of death?

Place of death:

Evidence relating to the circumstances of death (if you hold a death certificate\inheritance order please attach to your documents later below):

Details of the insured/beneficiary relatives:

Please attach here the insured/beneficiary ID, death certificate (if applicable):

Add Document

Property insurance information:

Please provide information about the property held by the insured/beneficiary and of the insurance policy (including real estate, bonds etc.):

Please attach here relevant documents (deeds, audits etc.):

Add Document

Details of the insurance policy

Type of insurance (property, life other)

Insurer (if known)

Policy number (if known)

If you do not hold the policy details, why do you believe such a policy exists?

Please attach all relevant documents in you possession regarding the insurance policy:

Add Document

Have you filed a claim regarding the policy?

To whom?

Date the claim was filed

Reference

Claim Results

Please attach here any document relevant to you claim/s (transcripts of forms, letters, court documents, settlements etc.)

Add Document

Would you like to add any relevant information?

Have you or do you intend to file another claim with Shurat HaDin's "Last Chance" project?

Please provide the name of the person you have/intend to apply for:

Power of Attorney

I hereby give Shurat HaDin and any person acting on its behalf full power and authority to undertake and perform the following acts on my behalf:

To request and receive any information and/or documentation that I am entitled to receive under any Law from any person, database or authority pertaining to any rights and/or property which has been lost during the period between 1933 and 1945 and any claims and/or lawsuits made in regard to the restitution and/or compensation for these.

To sign, submit on my behalf and represent me in any claim and/or any application and/or action or any other proceeding pertaining to or arising from these matters before any authority, institution and person in regard to the re-institution and/or compensation for any rights and/or property lost in the period between 1933 and 1945.

Date of Signature

Full Name

Signature

Form