ALLIANZ IN 1940

when the Allianz concern celebrated its fiftieth anniversary on January 13, 1940, Germany was once again at war, and thus a certain sobriety was in order despite the victories of 1939. The concern presented itself to its various constituencies in a two-volume Festschrift: the first, an informative and useful history of the company by Wilhelm Kisch entitled “Fifty Years Allianz. A Contribution to the History of German Private Insurance” the second, a picture chronicle of the concern that was a balance of photos of major executives in times past and present, leading representatives of the concern's external service, festive events, various headquarters buildings, vacation homes belonging to the concern, and sporting events. Certainly the goal was to present Allianz and the role of private insurance in the most favorable light possible, but Kisch's narrative was not heavy-handed and was reasonably free of hyperbole. Not surprisingly, it contained a number of positive references to the National Socialist regime and its values; the photo volume showed what can only be termed a requisite number of pictures of uniformed employees and Swastika flags, so that one was aware who held power in Germany and of the Allianz concern's “devotion.”

The film Allianz produced for the occasion, Allianz 1890–1940, which can justly be called a high-quality cinematic self-presentation of the concern, was similarly constructed.