By Marvin Stern, Former Manager, Holocaust Survivor Assistance Office, Office of the Insurance Commissioner,
Re: your recent story ?Funding dries up for state Holocaust assistance?:
1) It was an honor and a privilege to work on behalf Washington State?s Holocaust survivors and their families. Every Holocaust-era insurance claim filed was important regardless of the outcome; the process of simply remembering and honoring the memory of martyred relatives has deep significance. As I wrote in my final letter to claimants, ?the real Holocaust is a mosaic of the experiences and stories of all those who were caught up in those events ? a mosaic and a story that will always have 6 million pieces missing. But there is real value in each and every one of those pieces, in both the stories known to us and those that are only memories. I believe together we have searched for, found and added pieces to that collective mosaic.?
2) It was a privilege to work for two Insurance Commissioners, Deborah Senn and Mike Kreidler, who truly were committed to the cause of seeking justice on behalf of Washington?s Holocaust survivors as a matter of principle.
3) I was both surprised and disappointed to read the Office of the Insurance Commissioner?s explanation for the decision to end funding for the Holocaust Survivors Assistance Office, which served not only claimants in Washington but acted as an advocate for the interests of all claimants. The decision to cut funding for the Holocaust Survivors Assistance Office in the middle of both a budget year (July 1 to June 30) and budget cycle should not be blamed on the governor instituting ?efficiency and cost-cutting measures.? The decision was OIC?s.
Marvin Stern, Former Manager
Holocaust Survivor Assistance Office
Office of the Insurance Commissioner