What are your thoughts on this? I think it's obvious the people running the company now aren't the same people as back then.
Source
The New York Giants and New York Jets ended negotiations on stadium naming rights with a German insurance company that once had ties to the Nazis.
Allianz had been seeking a deal to put its name on the stadium being built by both teams in the Meadowlands.The deal could have been worth about $30 million a year to the teams. The stadium is scheduled to be completed for the 2010 season.
Allianz once insured Nazi death camps and refused to pay life insurance claims to its Jewish clients -- instead granting the proceeds to the Nazis.
The proposed deal was criticized by Jewish organizations, Holocaust survivors and football fans who said seeing the company's name emblazoned on the stadium would be a constant reminder of the company's ties to the Holocaust.
Steven Korenblat, an attorney who represented Citigroup in its naming rights deal for the New York Mets' new stadium, noted that German companies such as Daimler-Benz and Deutsche Bank that had connections to the Third Reich have higher profiles in the U.S. than Allianz.
"I don't think this is a made-up controversy," Korenblat said, referring to Allianz negotiations. "For those who have strong feelings about it, it's genuine. My view is that we should continue to remember the past and continue to speak the truth, but at the same time we should allow Germany and its corporate citizens to move forward."
The New York Giants and New York Jets ended negotiations on stadium naming rights with a German insurance company that once had ties to the Nazis.
Allianz had been seeking a deal to put its name on the stadium being built by both teams in the Meadowlands.The deal could have been worth about $30 million a year to the teams. The stadium is scheduled to be completed for the 2010 season.
Allianz once insured Nazi death camps and refused to pay life insurance claims to its Jewish clients -- instead granting the proceeds to the Nazis.
The proposed deal was criticized by Jewish organizations, Holocaust survivors and football fans who said seeing the company's name emblazoned on the stadium would be a constant reminder of the company's ties to the Holocaust.
Steven Korenblat, an attorney who represented Citigroup in its naming rights deal for the New York Mets' new stadium, noted that German companies such as Daimler-Benz and Deutsche Bank that had connections to the Third Reich have higher profiles in the U.S. than Allianz.
"I don't think this is a made-up controversy," Korenblat said, referring to Allianz negotiations. "For those who have strong feelings about it, it's genuine. My view is that we should continue to remember the past and continue to speak the truth, but at the same time we should allow Germany and its corporate citizens to move forward."