The Establishment of the Life Insurance Business in Germany in the Nineteenth Century

The history of the German life insurance business still awaits its great interpreter, and that is as surprising as it is regrettable. It is surprising because provision for old age and surviving dependents has been of major concern for very much longer than the debate on the future of the state pension schemes, and it is regrettable because most of those who have written on the subject lack the necessary historical understanding, for all their good intentions and some admirable achievements. Few have enjoyed the advantage of the order a theoretical concept would provide. Much as the works of Ludwig Arps, Malte von Bargen, Heinrich Braun, Karl Hax, Werner Mahr or Albert Rosin1 on the development of the insurance business deserve acknowledgement and recognition, since they illustrate a wide range of interrelations and collate much valuable basic material, the lack of a systematic approach has meant that much has been overlooked, connecting lines and interdependence concealed and many facts have been wrongly interpreted or disorted.