Heard of Allianz but can't quite put your finger on where? It just so happens that this Munich-based finance and insurance company holds the naming rights for the home of both the city's clubs - Bayern Munich and 1860 München play their matches at the Allianz Arena. As well as insuring Auschwitz - yes, a Nazi death camp was underwritten - Allianz's CEO Kurt Schmitt was also the Reich Economy Minister. Unsurprisingly, huge funds were therefore channelled directly into the operations of Allianz. Most disturbingly, however, Jews whose family members were murdered during the Holocaust and who held life-insurance policies with Allianz were refused their money back on the grounds that there was no evidence of the deaths being recorded. Allianz instead profited massively from the Holocaust - although it must be noted that they company eventually paid back some reparations years later. Whoever said people working in the financial sector were heartless?
NUFC editor for WhatCulture.com/NUFC. History graduate (University of Edinburgh) and NCTJ-trained journalist. I love sports, hopelessly following Newcastle United and Newcastle Falcons. My pastimes include watching and attending sports matches religiously, reading spy books and sampling ales.
