61340 Vorabseiten_e - Unabhängige Expertenkommission Schweiz

1934 and 1939, which decreased slightly during the war. This reflected an
absolute increase in the number of policies taken out in Germany, from around
70,000 in 1933 to 206,000, with a total sum insured of 778 million reichsmarks
at the end of 1944 (as the statistics only cover the number of insurance
policies taken out and do not show the number of policyholders, the figure for
multiple policies held by the same individuals could not be established). Some
companies embarked on operations in new branches of insurance in Germany:
in 1934, Rentenanstalt went into reinsurance; from 1936 on, Basler Leben
offered liability insurance in Germany; in 1939 Helvetia Feuer introduced glass
breakage insurance, and starting 1942, Winterthur Unfall sold insurances on
contents in Germany. The (gross) premium revenue generated by all the Swiss
insurance and reinsurance companies from their German business totalled at
least 217 million francs at the end of 1943, with Schweizer Rück alone
accounting for at least 81 million. 3
After the start of the Second World War, relations between German and Swiss
companies became more complex. After 1939, the German authorities became
concerned that private companies might pass on sensitive military information,
and in September 1939, restrictions were imposed on the exchange of insurancerelated
data with other countries. Swiss companies were also initially excluded
from underwriting risks relating to institutions deemed to be «essential for the
war effort», although this did not keep Swiss insurers from insuring armament
factories. Despite more difficult working conditions, business in Germany
carried on more or less normal until just before the end of the war. As described
in more detail below, this was evident from the year-on-year increase in foreign
exchange transfers relating to insurance payments from Germany to Switzerland.
After the Western campaign in 1940, the German insurance companies’ organisations
in France were so overstretched that they could only take on a small
proportion of the business previously operated by the British insurance
companies, which had now been forced out of the market; as a result, there was
a real shortage of insurance provision. This offered Swiss insurers the opportunity
to take over British portfolios. Before this could happen, however, the
Swiss negotiator, Hans Koenig – seeking to avoid giving offence to the German
authorities – made the following statement to the German Reich Insurance
Council (Reichsversicherungsrat) in November 1940:
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«As regards the insurance portfolios of English or other foreign insurance
companies operating in Germany, I will indicate to the Swiss companies
that they must refrain from intervening in any way. Moreover, no portfolio
held by a foreign insurance company operating in France should be transferred
to a Swiss company.» 4