Strakhsoiuz

Strakhsoiuz [Страхосоюз; full name: Український кооперативний страховий союз; Ukrainskyi kooperatyvnyi strakhovyi soiuz, or Ukrainian Co-operative Insurance Union]. A central organization set up in the fall of 1918 in Kyiv to organize insurance co-operatives. Its equity fund consisted of shares bought by various co-operatives and associations. Strakhsoiuz insured the property of co-operatives against fire and theft, transported goods against damage and theft, farm produce and crops against spoilage and damage, and farm animals against disease. The union planned to organize public health and veterinary services, fire-fighting units, and the manufacture of fireproof building materials. Strakhsoiuz was dissolved by the Soviet authorities in 1922, but it was revived soon afterward with the introduction of the New Economic Policy. It operated under its new name, Koopstrakh, or the All-Ukrainian Insurance Union, until 1930.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 5 (1993).]