Nuclear Insurance Policy--Read the Fine Print

If the big bomb comes, it might be difficult to collect on the Total Holocaust Coverage and Limited Nuclear War Policy.

After all, the Auf Wiedersehen Nuclear Insurance Co. of America will probably not be around to pay off. The insurance certificate is as much a political statement by its creator, Newark resident Randall Dorman, as a novelty meant to make money.

The $5 certificate and accompanying policy are riddled with anti-nuclear slogans. Against the background of a nuclear mushroom cloud, the certificate reads, “The only way to prevent Nuclear War is to have a Nuclear Free World.”

No Monetary Compensation

The policy contains several “clauses” that detail the effects of vaporization, annihilation, radiation contamination and fallout after a nuclear attack. What it does not offer is any monetary compensation.

The papers are signed by Sigismund Schwong, the mythical company’s president, and Hal O’Coste, the underwriter.

Dorman, 38, said he created Auf Wiedersehen in 1981 after he was fired during the air traffic controller strike. He had worked for eight years at the Oakland Air Traffic Control Center in Fremont.

While watching television, Dorman said, he heard Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger say the United States could win a limited nuclear war. He said he also heard other comments from Reagan Administration officials supporting a nuclear buildup in Europe.

‘Scaring All of Europe’

“I said, ‘What are these guys talking about? They’re crazy. They’re scaring all of Europe,’ ” Dorman said.

He designed the nuclear attack insurance papers partly to ridicule nuclear weapons, partly to make a living after being fired.

But several financial setbacks ran the business into ground zero, he said. They included two badly produced television commercials, a badly printed first draft of the certificate, the loss of his rarely used state sales tax permit and his need to return to school to get a marketable skill.

Sales Hampered

The political climate of the country has also hampered nuclear insurance sales, he said.

“I don’t think the timing is right. After the election, with a public mandate putting Ronnie back into office, I don’t think the people care enough (about the anti-nuclear effort).”

But armed with a business degree and a new marketing strategy--selling the certificates directly to novelty shops and college bookstores in Berkeley and Palo Alto--Dorman said he hopes to recoup his $4,000 investment in the project.

“It’s a hit-or-miss thing, like the Pet Rock. I don’t know how long this thing is going to last, or if it will at all.”