German Insurance Companies
Placido Powers
There is a rich, detailed collection of insurance documents at the National Archivesrelating to World War II, the Holocaust, and postwar Europe as well. Fortunately for usresearchers, Dr. Greg Bradsher and his team have periodically compiled useful finding aidsto help guide us to some of the more pertinent items of interest. As a researcher, I liketo start with the basics; the overviews; the macro approach, and then work my way into thedetails. The place to start a foundation for insurance in the Archives is in Record Group260, the OMGUS records, the military government of the U.S. in Germany. Box 248 of theDeputy Director of the Economics Division of OMGUS contains a very good history of theGerman insurance industry, including German insurance during the National Socialistregime. This document shows the Nazis partaking of the large capital reserves held byGerman insurance companies by filling the leading positions in the insurance field withtrusted party men. The formation of a Reich monopoly for the privately-owned insurancecompanies was considered by the Party as a necessary step in a program which envisionedthe eventual nationalization of the German insurance business. In addition to attempts toinfiltrate into the management of the private insurance companies as a means forcontrolling the companies, the Nazi party, by decree, exerted pressure on the insurancecompanies to divert funds from the normal
insurance investment channels into Reich securities or loans to industries: initiallyin such ventures as Autobahn construction, then later, in war industries. The four largestGerman insurance companies in the U.S. Zone claimed after the war that they were able toresist Nazi pressures to dominate their organizations and that they never contributed morethan a minimal amount to the Party's programs. This, however, was not borne out bythe facts of this document.
Box 11 in the records of the Branch Chief of the Property Control and External AssetsBranch of OMGUS also contains an excellent overview of the German insurance industry. Thisreport sheds light on reinsurance, the program where insurance companies spread risksamong each other. This document also explores German exploitation of fresh opportunitiesfor profit that opened up as one European country after another was overrun. Theseopportunities were enhanced by the enforced withdrawal of British companies with theirlong established connections, especially in Western Europe and in Scandanavia. In manyinstances, the Germans also took over the business of their non-enemy competitors. Indefeated France, negotiations with the French insurance cartel gave the German companies afree hand. The report also goes into detail about German takeover of the insuranceindustries in Belgium, Yugoslavia, Denmark, Romania, Turkey, Spain, Portugal, and Hungaryto fuel their war machine. It goes on to study the German life insurance field, inparticular, as "the outstanding branch" in the industry because it has thelargest capital investments. Meanwhile, it is stated that Swiss insurance companies wereallowed to flourish in Germany, Belgium, and France while operating less actively inHolland, Luxembourg, Egypt, Syria, and Spain. In fact, in another OMGUS document, theAmericans are astonished to learn that the Swiss companies operated without interruptionthroughout the war. Box 61 of the Financial Institution Branch's Insurance andCentral Bank Policies in the OMGUS records has a file on German insurance policies. Thisis the most detailed folder I have found on the status of Jewish insurance policies. OneOMGUS document says that in 1941, insurance companies had to transfer all reservessecuring policies held by Jews and other undesirables to the Reich Ministry of Finance.The insurance companies were then relieved of any further liabilities with respect tothese policies. There is also a letter from the son (an American citizen) of aconcentration camp victim frustrated in his attempt to collect a $6,000 life insurancepayment from a Swiss insurance company operating in Hamburg, because of the fallenReich's assumption of responsibility.
Record Group 165, the War Department General and Special Staffs, also contains anexcellent overview of the German insurance industry in Entry 179, the InterrogationReports & Correspondence on POW's. There is much information on the publicinsurance industry, the Brunswick institutions, covering every conceivable type ofinsurance, from cattle to life. Public insurance in pre-Nazi Germany was controlled by thestate governments. After 1933, the Reich's Ministry of Economics took over thebusiness. A particularly helpful chapter describes the influences of the war on publicinsurance.
Record Group 169, the Foreign Economic Administration, contains Entry 157, ResearchReports & Studies. The records here discuss American worries during the war ofinsurance information regarding shipping and cargo to and from Latin America being leakedto the Germans because of the Axis domination of the insurance industry in that part ofthe world. Box 15 discusses Spanish-controlled firms acting as a front for Italianinsurance companies in Argentina. Axis insurance companies are seen as having a cozyrelationship with the Chilean government.
Record Group 226, the OSS, has some information on the Axis penetration of the Europeanand Latin American insurance markets. These records are located in Box 3 of Entry 37,Correspondence of the Division Chief of the Europe-Africa Division.
Within the Economic Warfare Section of the Antitrust Division of the Department ofJustice, Record Group 60, is documentation of reinsurance between German and Japaneseinsurance agencies in October 1941, particularly Munchener Ruckversicherungs and TokyoFire Insurance Company. There is also material on the German insurance company, Victoria,extending its business into the occupied countries of western Europe. It is stated withinthis collection that the Axis insurance structure is "a powerful agency in theeconomic control of the continent." By dominating the insurance field throughoutEurope, profits of some Axis insurance companies were doubled or tripled as they took overthe cream of the insurance business, leaving the more dubious risks to domestic companies.These Axis firms also acquired control of the investment and management policies ofinsurance companies in occupied areas, "thus exerting a powerful influence infinancial and industrial affairs."
RG 60 is also concerned with Italian insurance; the strategic importance of insuranceinformation; and the Axis domination of the insurance market in Latin America. Box 95 ofthis series provides a list of American and foreign-owned companies doing reinsurancebusiness in the United States.
Within Record Group 131, the Office of Alien Property, there is an entry known as theForeign Funds Control Subject Files. Box 173 has a document on German laws, decrees, andregulations regarding insurance. Box 170 details:
Record Group 84, the Foreign Service Posts of the United States, provides a window intothe postwar insurance situation within formerly fascist and neutral countries. Box 40 ofthe U.S. Political Advisor records for Germany show the Allied government appointingexperts to the Insurance Institutions experienced in social insurance and havinganti-fascist convictions.
Box 99 in the same series states that Italian insurance companies that operated out of Trieste (e.g. Riunione Adriactica) were closely allied with German interests during the war and that the Americans were determined to root out the fascist elements operating in the industry. This box also illustrates the frustration of American authorities at the Italian government's reluctance in "weeding out" the extensive undesirable elements" within the insurance sphere.
Box 106 of the US Legation records relating to Hungary detail Soviet pressures tosqueeze out Italian insurance companies after the war, along with"recommendations" for "concessions" from Hungarian-owned insurancecompanies.
Gesetzliche Krankenversicherung: statutory insurance provided by 109 nonprofit sickness funds," covering 88% of population. High-income individuals and civil servants can opt out for fully substitutive private insurance, which covers 11% of population.
Sickness funds: compulsory wage contributions shared equally between employers and employees and distributed to sickness funds using risk-adjusted capitation; additional income-dependent contributions paid directly to sickness funds; general tax revenue. Private insurance: individual premiums.
Health insurance is mandatory in Germany. Approximately 86 percent of the population is en-rolled in statutory health insurance, which provides inpatient, outpatient, mental health, and prescription drug coverage. Administration is handled by nongovernmental insurers known as sickness funds. Government has virtually no role in the direct delivery of health care. Sickness funds are financed through general wage contributions (14.6%) and a dedicated, supplementary contribution (1% of wages, on average), both shared by employers and workers. Copayments apply to inpatient services and drugs, and sickness funds offer a range of deductibles. Germans earning more than $68,000 can opt out of SHI and choose private health insurance instead. There are no government subsidies for private insurance.
Health insurance is provided by two subsystems: statutory health insurance (SHI), consisting of competing, not-for-profit, nongovernmental health insurance plans known as sickness funds; and private health insurance.
Unlike those in many other countries, sickness funds and private health insurers, as well as long-term care insurers, use the same providers. In other words, hospitals and physicians treat all patients regardless of whether they have SHI or private insurance.
Role of public health insurance: In 2017, total health expenditures made up 11.5 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP). Of this health spending, 74 percent was publicly funded, and most of that spending (57% of total) went toward SHI.
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