IG Farben

IG Farben
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Name	IG Farben
Fate	Liquidated
Foundation	25 December 1925
Defunct	31 October 2012
Location	Frankfurt, Germany
Industry	Chemical industry
Key people	Carl Bosch, Carl Duisberg, Fritz ter Meer

IG Farben. Formally known as Interessen-Gemeinschaft Farbenindustrie AG, it was a German chemical and pharmaceutical conglomerate, established in 1925 from a merger of six major companies. The corporation became a central pillar of the German economy and war machine, playing a crucial role in enabling World War II and perpetrating the Holocaust. Following the war, its leadership was prosecuted for war crimes and crimes against humanity at the IG Farben Trial, and the company was broken into its constituent successors, including BASF, Bayer, and Hoechst AG.

History and formation

The creation of the entity was the culmination of decades of consolidation within the German chemical industry, driven by intense international competition, particularly with firms like DuPont in the United States. Key architects of the merger included industrialists Carl Bosch of BASF and Carl Duisberg of Bayer, who sought to pool resources for large-scale research and production. The formal founding occurred in December 1925, uniting BASF, Bayer, Hoechst AG, Agfa, Chemische Fabrik Griesheim-Elektron, and Chemische Fabrik vorm. Weiler Ter Meer. This consolidation created the world's largest chemical company and a scientific powerhouse, with major research facilities at its headquarters in Frankfurt and the IG Farben Building.

Corporate structure and operations

The conglomerate was organized into numerous operating groups (*Sparten*) focused on specific product lines, including dyes, pharmaceuticals, plastics, and synthetic materials. Its corporate headquarters, the iconic IG Farben Building in Frankfurt, served as an administrative nerve center. The company maintained a vast network of production plants across Germany and internationally, with major sites at Ludwigshafen, Leverkusen, and Leuna. Its operations were deeply integrated with the state, especially after the Nazi Party's rise to power, aligning its industrial planning with the regime's Four Year Plan for economic autarky and rearmament.

Role in World War II and the Holocaust

The corporation was indispensable to the Nazi war effort, producing nearly all of Germany's synthetic rubber (Buna) and fuel, critical materials blockaded by the Allies. It operated a massive synthetic fuel plant at Auschwitz (Monowitz), known as Buna Werke, using brutal slave labor from the SS. The company's subsidiary, Degesch, produced and supplied Zyklon B, the pesticide used in the gas chambers of Auschwitz and other extermination camps. Executives like Fritz ter Meer were directly involved in selecting factory sites adjacent to concentration camps to exploit prisoner labor.

Postwar dissolution and legacy

After World War II, the Allied Control Council seized its assets, and 24 of its directors and managers stood trial before the American Military Tribunal in Nuremberg during the IG Farben Trial. While some, including Fritz ter Meer, received prison sentences, many convictions were considered lenient. Under Allied directive, the conglomerate was formally liquidated in 1952 and broken into its original constituent companies: BASF, Bayer, and Hoechst AG, with Agfa going to Bayer. The surviving companies faced decades of litigation and compensation claims from former slave laborers, with a major settlement fund established in 2001.

Major subsidiaries and products

Key operating subsidiaries included Agfa for photographic supplies, Degesch for pest control chemicals, and IG Farben's own pharmaceutical division, which later evolved into Hoechst AG. Its most historically significant products were Zyklon B, synthetic rubber (Buna), synthetic fuels, the first modern antibiotics like Prontosil, and pioneering materials like polymers and acrylics. The pharmaceutical research legacies of the constituent firms eventually led to major drugs from successors like Bayer, which developed Aspirin.

Category:Chemical companies of Germany Category:Defunct companies of Germany Category:Companies involved in the Holocaust