THE POGROM AS AN INSURANCE PROBLEM AND THE CONFERENCE OF NOVEMBER 12, 1938

on June 17, 1938, Andreas Braß informed a meeting of the advisory council of the Private Insurance Economic Group that the Jewish question was “picking up strongly again,” as his colleagues may have noticed. He had recently been at a small gathering with Hitler, and there was a good deal of anger that so many Viennese Jews were coming to Berlin and that it would not be surprising if something were done about it. Braß indicated that the Hitler Youth were likely to take action and that, in any case, the insurance companies should be prepared. He personally would not insure any more Jews. However, as pointed out by General Director Anton Dietrich Kessel (one of the Berlin glass insurance company executives), there were policies still in force that one could not simply eliminate overnight. He had already received reports of Jewish store windows being defaced during the day and then broken at night. The damage had been considerable. He asked for help, since the damage was not being done to the Jews in the end, a point echoed by General Director Johannes Tiedke of Alte Leipziger, who observed that “the Jew can only be harmed if he himself is the owner and is not insured.” Non-Jewish Germans would have to pay in the end — and, worse yet, most of the glass came from abroad.