Not exactly the most exciting title for a book, I am sure it would have sold better if it were “The Company Who Insured the Concentration Camps.” But despite its droll title, the book can be interesting in realizing that even in a totalitarian regime such as Hitler’s, the reality of business must go on.
Dr. Feldman commissioned in 1997 by the Board of Management of Allianz (the world’s largest insurance company) to author the story of Allianz during the war. He states that he the company was fully co-operative and given his intellectual credentials, I take the book to be accurate and balanced. Allianz, along with a number of other European insurance companies was being charged in a number of class action lawsuits regarding how they discharged their duties to Jewish policy holders. Additionally, there were newspaper stories regarding how Allianz insured various SS-owned factories in concentration camps. Questions were being raised in several quarters regarding how closely Allianz worked with the Nazi regime and how Kurt Schmitt who the general director of Allianz between was 1921-33 became Hitler’s second Reich Economics Minister between 1933-34.
Before accepting the commission, Dr. Feldman (a distinguished professor at Berkeley) insisted that he have access to all records, individuals, etc., and Allianz to its credit provided free access to any materials which had survived the war. But the task was huge as man companies which did business with the Nazi regime tried to paint themselves as victims of the regime and as being held hostage to the rules and polices of that time. Indeed, the same questions which were asked of individuals who lived under such a regime (the degree of collaboration or resistance too) were being asked of companies throughout occupied Europe.
Finally, the life and times of an insurance company is not the most exciting topic for the average historian, even one interested in economic history. Yet, Dr. Feldman does an admirable job of taking the reader through Board meetings, national conferences with the major Nazi players, the fights for business, how claims for Kristallnacht Nacht were handled (the Party did not want the Jews compensated and wanted to seize the funds which would have been compensation, the insurance companies were reluctant to pay claims as the action was “political” and thus outside of the policies borders, the economists were upset that replacing the broken glass which largely came from Belgium put a drain on foreign currency reserves which impacted the build-up of the military), etc. Meetings between the insurance companies, Goring, Goebbels, etc. were lengthy and often heated until a compromise was hammered out.
We also see the problem of the Jewish employees of Allianz; the regime put increased pressure on Allianz to fire Jewish salesmen, clerks, etc. Then when Allianz continued to pay the fired agents for the commissions on their business, the regime began to take aim at Allianz for not in effect, boycotting Jewish business. Again, lengthy meetings at several governmental levels with numerous agencies.
As the war went on and new territories were occupied, Allianz and other German insurance firms raced to buy up the insurance firms in Poland, France, etc. Indeed, as late as April 1945, just one month from the collapse of Nazi Germany, some insurance companies were trying to expand in territories about to be occupied by the Soviets! As many of the employees of Allianz were military age, most were called up to serve in the armed services. Should drafted salesmen continue to be paid their commissions when someone else must service their accounts? How were clerical personnel to be replaced and trained when most of the replacements were retired or disabled and not up to the physical demands of the job (the company continued to operate from its various offices throughout the bombing raids).
In the end, the book is an interesting business book as the demands of a war and regime that was not exactly business savvy gives us a glimpse into the everyday problems of a company like Allianz. The reading can be harder as there are so many individuals of whom the reader will never again run across so who reports to who in which department can be difficult.
So, the question is: did Allianz co-operate with the Nazi regime during that period and did they in fact insure various facilities at the concentration camps. Yes, and yes with caveats; they co-operated to continue as did hundreds of other companies and millions of individuals. There is no indication that. y financed the Party (unlike Krupp and others) nor did the management participate in the racial or other political goals of the time. They did employ for as long as possible Jewish employees, paid them their commissions, etc., and tried to continue their pre-war drive to create an Allianz set of corporate-employee values.
An interesting book if you have the patience and a score card to keep track of the players.
