Harold James, Peter Borscheid, David Gugerli, and Tobias Straumann
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- April 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199689804
- eISBN:
- 9780191769450
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199689804.003.0018
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Business History, Innovation
Germany, ruled by the National Socialists between 1933 and 1945, remained the biggest market for Swiss Re. While both the chairman and the managing director were decidedly anti-Nazi, the company ...
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Germany, ruled by the National Socialists between 1933 and 1945, remained the biggest market for Swiss Re. While both the chairman and the managing director were decidedly anti-Nazi, the company still decided to be careful not to upset the regime in Germany too much. Germany on the other hand was interested in Switzerland offering an opportunity to conduct reinsurance business out of a neutral country. Swiss Re also to some degree got involved in racial politics through their German reinsurer Bayerische Rück and a Jewish-led insurance company in Austria. One case, the dismissal of Jewish-born manager Simon Wertheimer at Bayerische Rück, is well documented. Swiss Re in the end gave in to the pressures of the Nazis but continued to support Wertheimer and his family financially.Less
Germany, ruled by the National Socialists between 1933 and 1945, remained the biggest market for Swiss Re. While both the chairman and the managing director were decidedly anti-Nazi, the company still decided to be careful not to upset the regime in Germany too much. Germany on the other hand was interested in Switzerland offering an opportunity to conduct reinsurance business out of a neutral country. Swiss Re also to some degree got involved in racial politics through their German reinsurer Bayerische Rück and a Jewish-led insurance company in Austria. One case, the dismissal of Jewish-born manager Simon Wertheimer at Bayerische Rück, is well documented. Swiss Re in the end gave in to the pressures of the Nazis but continued to support Wertheimer and his family financially.
