The company insured the Auschwitz death camp and had a chief executive serving in Hitler's cabinet. The company is on the short list of those vying to slap their name on the Meadowlands stadium in New Jersey via a lucrative sponsorship deal.

The "NMSC has undertaken a rigorous due diligence effort," said spokeswoman Alice McGillion. "NMSC management and the teams' owners became sensitive to Allianz's history."

After weeks of vetting the company, ownership is convinced that Allianz has done enough to correct its past, said a source close to the negotiations.

Rabbi Jay Rosenbaum, secretary general of the North American Board of Rabbis, agreed that although survivors' sensibilities are understandable, a naming deal is legit.

"I have found Allianz to be receptive, to be sensitive and a friend of the Jewish people today," he said.

"We need not live in the past."