The Crimes ofI.G. Farben During WWII, I.G. Farben, a synthetic-fuels manufacturer for the German war machine, was a major supporter of the Nazi regime and a willing co-consplrator In the Holocaust.

ben would become infamous for its wholehearted support of, and participation in, the Sspawnedbrutal Nazifollowers,regime. I.G. Far Oil By 1923, pioneering Ger man chemist had been managing direc tor of the Badische Anilin und Soda Fabrik (BASF) Company for four years. During those years he had seen the post-World War I German economy crumble and, more disturbingly still, had seen French forces oc cupy the Ruhr Valley, caus ing the German govern ment to order the closing of manufacturing plants there, Nazi collaborator: Heinrich Buetefisch atthe Nuremburg War Crimes Tribunal. Buetefisch directed operationserations at shutdown was devastat- the i.G. Farben synthetic-fuels plant atAuschwitz, where thecompany participated in the Holocaust by running its own concentration-camp compiex and by working slave laborers to death in itssynthetic rubber and fuel plants. uel Ss'^ companies of the German chemical industry's interes- by Dennis Behreandt chwitz system of death camps. There, sen gemeinschaft (literally, "community of with the others, his head was shaved, he interest" — i.e., a cartel). March 8, 1943 was the day when was disinfected, tattooed with his prison Bosch had an idea for reversing the dam the Nazi S.S. came for Norbert ID number, and immediately put to work. age. Having played a central role in the Wollheim and his family. With "I came to the dreaded 'murder detail 4,' creation of technologies to manufacture his wife and his three-year-old son, Woll whose task it was to unload cement bags synthetic indigo and synthetic ammonia, heim was sent to the Grasse Hamburger- or constructional steel," Wollheim re Boschwascertain that it wouldbe possible strasse "collecting camp," a way station on called. He had ceased to be a private citi to manufacture synthetic motor fuels on a the blood-stained path to the Nazi's "final zen. He was no longer even the property of large scale as well. The technology already solution." A few days later, the family was the Nazi state. Instead the deed to his life existed. In 1913,chemist Friedrich Bergius sent to Auschwitz. Wollheim would never was held by the owner and operator of the had inventeda methodof extracting liquid see his family again. "On arriving at the Monowitz camp, the notorious German in fuel from coal using a process that came station at Auschwitz," Wollheim recalled dustrial conglomerate I.G. Farben. to be called hydrogenation. Though this at the Nuremberg Trials, "I was separated Created by the unification ofa number of process could only be used in the labora from my wife and child and have not seen German chemical firms, including BASF, tory, Bosch believed that, given sufficient them since." , and AGFA following World War I, funding, he could lead an effort to make the Wollheim was one of the "lucky" ones. I.G. Farben was famous for its innovations technique useful on a large scale. Along with about 220 other men, he was — including in the manufacture of syn The stakes were enormous. separated from the other prisoners who thetic fuels and synthetic rubber— and for was rich in coal, but had practically no re were condemned to immediate death in its stature as the largest chemical manufac serves of crude oil. Success would mean the gas chambers. Instead, he was taken turer in Europe and one of the largest cor energy independence for Germany and by truck to the Monowitz camp, a special porations in the world. But with the rise of vast, almost unimaginable, wealth for the labor camp within the sprawling Aus the unspeakably evil Hitler and his demon- German chemical industry.

THE NEW AMERICAN • NOVEMBER 27. 2006 mm.

The problem was that BASF, large the Farben facilities, stating |:v; though il was, did not have the nnancial that he was "plunged into a jI.G.q appointed head of the resources to tackle the problem all on its world of research and devel- ^ own. "A broader and more substantial opment on a gigantic scale AuschwitzAUSCfll Buna facility and appointed corporate base was needed," wrote De such as I had never seen." Heinrii Heinrich Buetefisch head of the Auschwitz partment of Justice official Joseph Borkin Standard Oil president Wal in his book T/ie Crime ami Punishmentof ter C. Teagle was similarly I synthesynthetic-oil plant. Under their leadership, I.G. Farben. Bosch had just such a plan. impressed; "I had not known i |I.G.Q Wlwould wholeheartedly participate in "He proposed that all the I.G. companies what research meant until I | ' * merge into a single corporation bringing saw it." Teagle remarked. I the bn brutal genocide of Jews and others all their industrial activities and financial "We were babies compared I whom the Nazis considered undesirable. strength into a gigantic monolithic entity." to what they were doing." I ; Bosch's proposal met with favor and on Just when it looked like December 9, 1925 the companies of the I.G. Farben was about to take the world hydrogenation of coal be continued." I.G. cartel were merged into BASF creat by storm with its process for making syn Though Bosch was initially cautious of ing a new corporate colossus: I.G. Farben- thetic fuel, the bottom fell out of crude- the Nazis, he waseager to sign a pact with industrie Aktiengesellschaft — I.G. Far oil prices with the beginning of the Great Hitler to ensure that the I.G. Farben syn ben for short. Depression, and the outlook for synthetic thetic-fuel program could continue. The fuels went from promising to bleak near pact was formally signed on December 14, Synthetic Fuel and Nazi Germany ly overnight. But the rise of 1933. Under the agreement with the Nazi With the merger, I.G. Farben's immense changed the equation. Even before be regime, I.G. Farben was to increase pro research and engineering facilities swung coming chancellor. Hitler met with Farben duction capacity so that by 1937 it could into action. Officials from other nations officials Heinrich Buetefisch and Heinrich produce 300,000 to 350,000 tons of syn and companies were overawed by the scale Gattineau. The man who would shortly thetic oil each year. of the I.G. Farben effort. Frank A. Howard, become dictator of the German Reich told the head of research and development for the two Farben men that synthetic fuel "I.G. Auschwitz" Standard Oil, was given a tour of the Far was a matter of central importance. "Ger After 1933, I.G. Farben identified itself ben efforts in 1926. Though Standard Oil man motor fuel must become a reality, ever more closely with the Nazi regime. was no slouch in matters ofresearch, How even if this entails sacrifices," Hitler said. At the same time it moved aggressively ard couldn't believe what he was seeing at "Therefore it is urgently necessary that the to increasesynthetic-fuel production. By 1940, notes Daniel Yerginin T/iePrize, his 1991 history of the oil industry,Germany was producing 72,000 barrels ofsynthetic fuel everyday.As the wardragged on, pro duction actually increased. Yergin points out that production was up to 124,000 barrels per day and was still increasing in the first quarter of 1944. This, Yergin notes, "could not have happened without immense effort and all the normal tools and techniques of the Nazi war economy, including slave labor." The increased demand for both synthet ic fuel and the synthetic rubber known as Buna that I.G. Farben produced required the construction of additional facilities.

rtsssr. The Nazis summoned I.G. officials Fritz ter Meer and Otto Ambros to a secret meeting to discuss the situation, after which Ambros was sent on a scouting mis sion to Auschwitz. Ambros found that the proposed site had ready access to coal, riv ers, and both road and railroad transporta- ^ tion. But most of all, it had a ready source Symbol of power: I.G. Farben wasoneofthe largest corporations intheworld and,ina showcase of labor in the unfortunates who were ofits power and prestige, its headquarters building was the largest office building in Europe. interned at the Auschwitz concentration Within its walls, I.G. executives planned and directed the company's pro-Nazi programs. camp. This, Ambros thought, would be

THE NEW AMERICAN • NOVEMBER 27. 2006 PAST AND PERSPECTIVE"

At I.G. Auschwitz, the S.S. problems by establishing its own concen "In July 1942," wrote Justice Departmentfnent guaranteed the company ac trationcamp."Thoughowned andoperated cess to 10,000 slave laborers by I.G. Farben, the new camp, Monowitz, official and I.G. Farben prosecutor Joseph)S6ph under Nazi control. At first would be run on Nazi forced-labor princi Borkin, "ttie LG. managing board voted this seemed to satisfy the ples: "All the inmates must be fed, sheltered I.G. management. "Our new and treated in such a way as to exploit them to solve its Auschwitz labor problems»by friendship with the S.S. is to the highest possible extent, at the lowest establishing its own concentration camp."l^p " proving very profitable," Am- conceivable degree of expenditure." bros informed Fritz ter Meer. It was a death sentence almost as ines Owned and operated by I.G. Farben, the Relations soon deteriorated capable as the gas chamber. Work groups new camp horribly exploited slave labor.[jQI" between I.G. and the S.S., would march into the factories in the • ? however, leading I.G. execu- morning, and carry back the corpses of tives to claim — ludicrously those who had died of exhaustion in the the place to build the new I.G. Farben fa since they were using slave labor — that afternoon. "I.G. reduced slave labor to a cilities. The new division would be named the Nazi masters of Auschwitz didn't consumable raw material," noted Borkin, I.G. Auschwitz. I.G. management appoint- understand "the working methods of ... "a human ore from which the mineral of ed Ambros head of the Auschwitz Buna free enterprise." If the I.G. Farben notion life was systematically extracted. When no facility and appointed Heinrich Buetefisch of "free enterprise" was to succeed, they usable energy remained, the living dross head of the Auschwitz synthetic-oil plant. would need to build their own concentra was shipped to the gassing chambers and Under their leadership, I.G. would whole- tion camp. "In July 1942," wrote Justice cremation furnaces of the extermination heartedlypaiticipate in the brutalgenocide Department official and I.G. Farben pros- center at Birkenau, where the S.S. re of Jews and others whom the Nazis con ecutor Joseph Borkin, "the I.G. managing cycled it into the German war economy sidered undesirable. board voted to solve its Auschwitz labor — gold teeth for the Reichsbank, hair for mattresses, and fat for soap." The Lcgacy ofI.G. Farben After World War II, I.G. Farben was bro ken up into its constituent companies, and several Farben officials, including Fritz ter Meer ofthe I.G. managing board and Otto Ambros and Heinrich Buetefisch, were sent to prison for their role in the enslave ment and death of those victims of the Ho locaust who perished at the hands of I.G. Farben. As for I.G. companies, several continue in operation, including Bayer AG, the producer of "Bayer Aspirin." •KUEHtlE, Hmi5 |@y€YDE; Erich witwj The technology that allowed the con glomerate to make the synthetic fuel that powered the Nazi war and terror machine remains a viable energy alternative today. Farben produced a significant amount of fuel for Hitler's Germany. "Altogether," wrote Daniel Yergin in The Prize, "syn thetic fuels would account for half of Germany's total oil production." If this could be achieved by the repugnant Nazis using starved, tyrannized, and deathly ill slaves, free American workers and entre preneurs should be able to do infinitely better today. •

PlirTrrirn longer version ofihis article, containing infonna- ER. Paul •i^ucrl5CH, HgrTrTcf) 1^ lion on the relationship between I.G. Farben and Rogue's gallery: Itwasn'tjusta few I.G. Farben employees who aided the Nazis during the some American business interests, is available at: HolocaList; it was the entire organization. Many of I.G, Farben's leadersanswered for theircrimes www.llwnewanu'rican.coni/artinan/publish/article^ at Nuremburg after the war. 43N.shrml

THENEWAMERICAN • NOVEMBER 27, 2006