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An inquiry into accords reached or pending with a number of European nations aiming to settle billion-dollar claims stemming from the Holocaust will be led by New York City Comptroller Alan Hevesi. A group led by Hevesi will examine how Germany and Austria are handling claims from Holocaust survivors who say prewar insurance policies were never honored.

Meanwhile, in Washington, U.S. Holocaust claims envoy Deputy Treasury Secretary Stuart Eizenstat, Austrian officials, Jewish survivor groups and attorneys penned an agreement Wednesday that will compensate Austrian Jews stripped of their assets after Nazi Germany annexed the country in 1938.