Sep 12, 2008 1:10 am US/Eastern
Allianz's Interest In New Stadium Sparks Outrage
Many Fans Let Owners Of Giants And Jets Know They Will Not Stand For Firm With Nazi Ties Getting Naming Rights
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
A giant controversy is brewing over a company that could soon have its name plastered all over the new Giants and Jets stadium.
German insurance company Allianz has a dark past, with close links to the Nazis.
Now the possibility it could buy the stadium's naming rights has both football fans and Jewish groups outraged.
While the Giants and Jets play, their new stadium is being built. Ownership is getting ready to sell the naming rights, for about $30 million, to a major corporation. It appears that company might be German insurance giant Allianz.
"I could not believe that the stadium for the Giants -- which I love watching -- would be named in the name of the insurance company that was responsible for the insurance of the camps in Auschwitz," said Holocaust survivor Ernie Michel.
Allianz was the underwriter for the death camps at Auschwitz. Its CEO at the time was in Hitler's cabinet. And Michel is an Auschwitz Survivor. His parents were killed during the Holocaust. Spokesmen for Allianz have noted that the company has made amends, paying some $12 million in recent years to Holocaust survivors. And that was enough for some fans.
"Somewhere along the way, it's time to let it go," Upper West Side resident Natalie Lucas said. "I assure you that nobody that's working there now had any connection to the Nazi era."
"That was then, this is now," added Joel Mischel. "People are driving Mercedes-Benz' and Volkswagens."
But Rabbi Marvin Hier of the Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles told CBS station WCBS-TV in New York City over the phone that Allianz' and the Giants and Jets' spokesmen's claim about amends is shallow.
"This company, Allianz, had to be forced to make the payments," Hier said. "They fought it tooth and nail. Did they come to the table voluntarily? No. I know we're talking football, but if you don't mind me mixing in a baseball metaphor -- they fought it all the way into the ninth inning."
One fan agreed.
"Obviously, the company has made attempts to make reparations but at the same time tell that to the people who are the survivors," Saro Badalian said.
"It affects me personally," Michel added. "To go into a stadium where I see 'Allianz.'"
Rabbi Hier told WCBS-TV he intends to press the issue with Jets owner Woody Johnson, and the Mara and Tisch families, co-owners of the Giants.
Calls and emails to the representative for the Giants and Jets, Allianz in America and to the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority were not returned.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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