HISTORY OF INSURANCE IN THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE

Hurriyet
Feb 6 2009
Turkey

ISTANBUL – The history of insurance in the Ottoman Empire is on
display for the first time in an exhibition featuring documents
from the collection of David M Kohen, an insurance agent in the
late 1800s. The exhibition can be seen at the Ottoman Bank Museum in
Istanbul’s Karaköy

The history of insurance during the Ottoman Empire has been revealed
for the first time in Turkey. Historic documents and policies on
display show the world how citizens of varied backgrounds subscribed
to a multitude of international insurance companies.

The Kohen family from Thessalonica started working in the field
of insurance in the Ottoman Empire in 1906, during the reign of
Sultan Abdulhamid II. Although the family started the business
in Thessalonica, they moved to the Ottoman capital, Istanbul,
sometime later. After Thessalonica and Istanbul, the Kohens went
to Germany. They worked in the highest positions for the country’s
largest insurance company Victoria from France to North Africa.

This sudden rise of the family in the field of insurance ended when
Adolf Hitler came to power. Speaking to the Hurriyet Daily News and
Economic Review, David M. Kohen, 85, a third generation member of
the family, said: "My family was fired from Victoria when Hitler’s
pressure grew in the country. Sometime later, Victoria was closed. My
grandfather stayed in France, while my father returned to Istanbul
and continued selling insurance."

The Kohen family has decided to gather a collection of the history
of insurance in the Ottoman. The collection has become wider as
they added new pieces that shed light on the history of insurance
in the Ottoman. Some pieces from the collection are on display at an
exhibition titled "What Hurts the Purse, Hurts the Soul – Insurance
in the Ottoman Empire with Documents from the Collection of David
M. Kohen" at the Ottoman Bank Museum in Karaköy. Allianz Insurance
Company sponsors the exhibition.

The exhibition, open through until March 14, displays 33 policies, 15
maps and 21 fire marks, which are metal signs bearing the name of an
insurance company. These signs used to be hung on buildings insured
by the company. A catalogue has also been published in Turkish and
English simultaneously with the exhibition.

150 foreign insurance companies in the empire Kohen said there
were 80 to 150 foreign insurance companies originally from England,
France, Italian and Germany within the borders of the empire until the
declaration of the Republic. He said policies were sold in Anatolia
via marketing people. "They were closed down one by one after the
declaration of the Republic. Among these companies only Union, which
is now Axa, and Ergo-Switzerland, the continuation of Victoria,
and Italy-based Generali and Allianz still survive," he said.

Union shares were sold most in eastern Anatolia Kohen said Greek,
Armenian and Jewish citizens conducting trade in the Ottoman
Empire were most interested in the concept of insurance. He said,
"Many churches, monasteries, schools and business places from the
east of Anatolia to Greek islands and Thrace were insured in this
period. An Armenian family, claiming to hold one of these policies,
filed a suit in California a few years ago. Union, known as Axa today,
sold most of its policies in the East."

Just like the great fire that scorched London in the early 1600s,
Istanbul suffered its own inferno in 1870. The fire started on Feridiye
Avenue in Taksim and swept through TarlabaÅ~_ı and Galatasaray,
burning 6,000 houses in only a few hours.

Kohen said there were Armenians and Greeks in that region. "After
this fire, the Ottoman citizen Greeks and Armenians learned about
insurance from their relatives living abroad, and insured their houses
against fire."

Kohen said the exhibition was a first for Turkey. "Even the managers
of insurance companies do not have information about the history
of insurance in the Ottoman era. This exhibition is very important
because it shows the development of insurance business in this land."
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