Misplaced Pages

#901098

97-588: I. G. Farbenindustrie AG ("dye industry syndicate"), commonly known as IG Farben , was a German chemical and pharmaceutical conglomerate . It was formed in 1925 from a merger of six chemical companies: Agfa , BASF , Bayer , Chemische Fabrik Griesheim-Elektron  [ de ] , Hoechst , and Weiler-ter-Meer . It was seized by the Allies after World War II and split into its constituent companies; parts in East Germany were nationalized. IG Farben

194-616: A $ 5 trillion global enterprise, and the EU and U.S. chemical companies are the world's largest producers. Sales of the chemical business can be divided into a few broad categories, including basic chemicals (about 35% - 37% of dollar output), life sciences (30%), specialty chemicals (20% - 25%) and consumer products (about 10%). Basic chemicals, or "commodity chemicals" are a broad chemical category including polymers, bulk petrochemicals and intermediates, other derivatives and basic industrials, inorganic chemicals , and fertilizers . Polymers are

291-503: A few years. Others argued for the formation of a profit pool or Interessen-Gemeinschaft (abbr. IG, lit. "community of interest"). In contrast, the chairman of Bayer, Carl Duisberg , argued for a merger. During a trip to the United States in the spring of 1903, he had visited several of the large American trusts such as Standard Oil , U.S. Steel , International Paper and Alcoa . In 1904, after returning to Germany, he proposed

388-724: A foundation for former captive labourers under the Nazi regime. The remaining property, worth DM 21 million (£6.7 million or €10.7 million), went to a buyer. Each year, the company's annual meeting in Frankfurt was the site of demonstrations by hundreds of protesters. Its stock (denominated in Reichsmarks ) traded on German markets until early 2012. As of 2012, it still existed as a corporation in liquidation. Film and television Literature Games Also see "Law No. 9" (PDF) . Allied Control Council . Archived (PDF) from

485-666: A major chemicals firm in the early 20th century in America. Polymers and plastics such as polyethylene , polypropylene , polyvinyl chloride , polyethylene terephthalate , polystyrene and polycarbonate comprise about 80% of the industry's output worldwide. Chemicals are used in many different consumer goods, and are also used in many different sectors. This includes agriculture manufacturing, construction, and service industries. Major industrial customers include rubber and plastic products, textiles , apparel, petroleum refining, pulp and paper , and primary metals. Chemicals are nearly

582-612: A major government contractor, providing significant material for the German war effort. Throughout that decade it purged itself of its Jewish employees; the remainder left in 1938. Described as "the most notorious German industrial concern during the Third Reich ", in the 1940s the company relied on slave labour from concentration camps , including 30,000 from Auschwitz , and was involved in medical experiments on inmates at both Auschwitz and Mauthausen . One of its subsidiaries supplied

679-453: A nationwide merger of the producers of dye and pharmaceuticals in a memorandum to Gustav von Brüning, the senior manager at Hoechst. Hoechst and several pharmaceutical firms refused to join. Instead, Hoechst and Cassella made an alliance based on mutual equity stakes in 1904. This prompted Duisberg and Heinrich von Brunck, chairman of BASF, to accelerate their negotiations. In October 1904 an Interessen-Gemeinschaft between Bayer, BASF and Agfa

776-469: A result of the research; the camp had asked for RM 200 per person, but Bayer had said that was too high. A Bayer employee wrote to Rudolf Höss , the Auschwitz commandant: "The transport of 150 women arrived in good condition. However, we were unable to obtain conclusive results because they died during the experiments. We would kindly request that you send us another group of women to the same number and at

873-495: A separate company, and became an honorary professor at the University of Heidelberg . Dürrfeld was sentenced to eight years, but had his sentence commuted to time served in 1951 by John McCloy , the U.S. High Commissioner for Germany, under massive political pressure, after which he joined the management or supervisory boards of several chemical companies. The company destroyed most of its records as it became clear that Germany

970-409: A severe bottleneck in production. Sulfuric acid began to be used as a more efficient agent as well as lime by the middle of the century, but it was the discovery of bleaching powder by Charles Tennant that spurred the creation of the first great chemical industrial enterprise. His powder was made by reacting chlorine with dry slaked lime and proved to be a cheap and successful product. He opened

1067-630: A site separate from the production plant(s). The scale of chemical manufacturing tends to be organized from largest in volume ( petrochemicals and commodity chemicals ), to specialty chemicals , and the smallest, fine chemicals . The petrochemical and commodity chemical manufacturing units are on the whole single product continuous processing plants. Not all petrochemical or commodity chemical materials are made in one single location, but groups of related materials often are to induce industrial symbiosis as well as material, energy and utility efficiency and other economies of scale . Those chemicals made on

SECTION 10

#1732764808902

1164-579: A wide variety of solid, liquid, and gaseous materials. Most of these products serve to manufacture other items, although a smaller number go directly to consumers. Solvents , pesticides , lye , washing soda , and portland cement provide a few examples of products used by consumers. The industry includes manufacturers of inorganic - and organic -industrial chemicals, ceramic products, petrochemicals, agrochemicals, polymers and rubber (elastomers), oleochemicals (oils, fats, and waxes), explosives, fragrances and flavors. Examples of these products are shown in

1261-423: Is a list of the top 25 chemical companies by chemical sales in 2015. (Note: Chemical sales represent only a portion of total sales for some companies.) Top chemical companies by chemical sales in 2015. [REDACTED] London , United Kingdom From the perspective of chemical engineers, the chemical industry involves the use of chemical processes such as chemical reactions and refining methods to produce

1358-453: Is their special duty to represent National Socialist Germany . ... The Sales Combines are also requested to see to it that their agents are adequately supplied with National Socialist literature. This message was repeated by Wilhelm Rudolf Mann , who chaired a meeting of the Bayer division board of directors on 16 February 1938, and who in an earlier meeting had referred to the "miracle of

1455-493: The Federal Cross of Merit . Those who served prison sentences included: Those acquitted included: Agfa , BASF and Bayer remained in business; Hoechst spun off its chemical business in 1999 as Celanese AG before merging with Rhône-Poulenc to form Aventis , which later merged with Sanofi-Synthélabo to form Sanofi . Two years earlier, another part of Hoechst was sold in 1997 to the chemical spin-off of Sandoz,

1552-778: The Frankfurt area , this allowed them to cooperate more successfully than the Dreibund , although they also did not rationalize or consolidate their production facilities. IG Farben was founded in December 1925 as a merger of six companies: BASF (27.4 percent of equity capital); Bayer (27.4 percent); Hoechst , including Cassella and Chemische Fabrik Kalle (27.4 percent); Agfa (9 percent); Chemische Fabrik Griesheim-Elektron (6.9 percent); and Chemische Fabrik vorm. Weiler Ter Meer (1.9 percent). The supervisory board members became widely known as, and were said to call themselves jokingly,

1649-659: The French Academy of Sciences offered a prize of 2400 livres for a method to produce alkali from sea salt ( sodium chloride ). The Leblanc process was patented in 1791 by Nicolas Leblanc who then built a Leblanc plant at Saint-Denis . He was denied his prize money because of the French Revolution . In Britain, the Leblanc process became popular. William Losh built the first soda works in Britain at

1746-621: The Losh, Wilson and Bell works on the River Tyne in 1816, but it remained on a small scale due to large tariffs on salt production until 1824. When these tariffs were repealed, the British soda industry was able to rapidly expand. James Muspratt 's chemical works in Liverpool and Charles Tennant's complex near Glasgow became the largest chemical production centres anywhere. By the 1870s,

1843-559: The St Rollox Chemical Works , north of Glasgow , and production went from just 52 tons in 1799 to almost 10,000 tons just five years later. Soda ash was used since ancient times in the production of glass , textile , soap , and paper , and the source of the potash had traditionally been wood ashes in Western Europe . By the 18th century, this source was becoming uneconomical due to deforestation, and

1940-745: The University of Frankfurt , housed in the former IG Farben head office , set up a permanent exhibition on campus, the Norbert Wollheim memorial , for the slave labourers and those killed by Zyklon B. At the beginning of the 20th century, the German chemical industry dominated the world market for synthetic dyes . Three major firms BASF , Bayer and Hoechst , produced several hundred different dyes. Five smaller firms, Agfa , Cassella , Kalle & Co.  [ de ] , Chemische Fabrik Griesheim-Elektron and Chemische Fabrik vorm. Weiler-ter Meer, concentrated on high-quality specialty dyes. In 1913, these eight firms produced almost 90 percent of

2037-456: The article wizard to submit a draft for review, or request a new article . Search for " Chemische Fabrik Kalle " in existing articles. Look for pages within Misplaced Pages that link to this title . Other reasons this message may be displayed: If a page was recently created here, it may not be visible yet because of a delay in updating the database; wait a few minutes or try

SECTION 20

#1732764808902

2134-587: The coal liquefaction process. IG Farben scientists made fundamental contributions to all areas of chemistry. Otto Bayer discovered the polyaddition for the synthesis of polyurethane in 1937. Several IG Farben scientists were awarded a Nobel Prize . Carl Bosch and Friedrich Bergius were awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1931 "in recognition of their contributions to the invention and development of chemical high pressure methods". Gerhard Domagk

2231-473: The "Council of Gods" ( Rat der Götter ). The designation was used as the title of an East German film, The Council of the Gods (1950). In 1926, IG Farben had a market capitalization of 1.4 billion  ℛ︁ℳ︁ (equivalent to 6 billion 2021 euros) and a workforce of 100,000, of which 2.6 percent were university educated, 18.2 percent were salaried professionals and 79.2 percent were workers. BASF

2328-791: The $ 546 billion global specialty chemical market was 33% Paints, Coating and Surface Treatments, 27% Advanced Polymer, 14% Adhesives and Sealants, 13% additives, and 13% pigments and inks. Speciality chemicals are sold as effect or performance chemicals. Sometimes they are mixtures of formulations, unlike " fine chemicals ," which are almost always single-molecule products. Consumer products include direct product sales of chemicals such as soaps , detergents , and cosmetics . Typical growth rates are 0.8 to 1.0 times GDP. Consumers rarely come into contact with basic chemicals. Polymers and specialty chemicals are materials that they encounter everywhere daily. Examples are plastics, cleaning materials, cosmetics, paints & coatings, electronics, automobiles and

2425-710: The 1862 London International Exhibition, anticipated many of the modern aesthetic and utility uses of plastics. The industrial production of soap from vegetable oils was started by William Lever and his brother James in 1885 in Lancashire based on a modern chemical process invented by William Hough Watson that used glycerin and vegetable oils . By the 1920s, chemical firms consolidated into large conglomerates ; IG Farben in Germany, Rhône-Poulenc in France and Imperial Chemical Industries in Britain. Dupont became

2522-571: The 1930s, the company underwent a process of Aryanization , and by 1938 Jewish employees had been dismissed and the Jews on the board had resigned. The remaining few left in 1938 after Hermann Göring issued a decree, as part of the Nazis' Four Year Plan (announced in 1936), that the German government would make foreign exchange available to German firms to fund construction or purchases overseas only if certain conditions were met, which included making sure

2619-529: The Auschwitz II crematoria, and in part because IG Farben supervisors in the camp spoke about the gassings, including using the threat of them to make the inmates work harder. Charles Coward , a British POW who had been held at Auschwitz III, told the IG Farben trial : The population at Auschwitz was fully aware that people were being gassed and burned. On one occasion they complained about the stench of

2716-525: The British soda output of 200,000 tons annually exceeded that of all other nations in the world combined. These huge factories began to produce a greater diversity of chemicals as the Industrial Revolution matured. Originally, large quantities of alkaline waste were vented into the environment from the production of soda, provoking one of the first pieces of environmental legislation to be passed in 1863. This provided for close inspection of

2813-531: The European Chemical industry saw its sales increase from 295 billion Euros to 539 billion Euros, a picture of constant growth. Despite this, the European industry's share of the world chemical market has fallen from 36% to 20%. This has resulted from the huge increase in production and sales in emerging markets like India and China. The data suggest that 95% of this impact is from China alone. In 2012

2910-788: The Food and Drug Administration. Pesticides, also called "crop protection chemicals", are about 10% of this category and include herbicides , insecticides , and fungicides . Specialty chemicals are a category of relatively high-valued, rapidly growing chemicals with diverse end product markets. Typical growth rates are one to three times GDP with prices over a dollar per pound. They are generally characterized by their innovative aspects. Products are sold for what they can do rather than for what chemicals they contain. Products include electronic chemicals, industrial gases , adhesives and sealants as well as coatings, industrial and institutional cleaning chemicals, and catalysts. In 2012, excluding fine chemicals,

3007-560: The German government's disposal. The minutes of a meeting of the Commercial Committee on 10 September 1937 noted: It is generally agreed that under no circumstances should anybody be assigned to our agencies abroad who is not a member of the German Labor Front and whose positive attitude towards the new era has not been established beyond any doubt. Gentlemen who are sent abroad should be made to realize that it

IG Farben - Misplaced Pages Continue

3104-472: The IG Farben Auschwitz plant, whether it was true that Jews were being cremated at Auschwitz. Höss replied that he could not discuss it and thereafter assumed that Dürrfeld knew. Dürrfeld, a friend of Höss, denied knowing about it. Hayes writes that the inmates of Auschwitz III, which supplied the slave labour for IG Farben, were well aware of the gas chambers, in part because of the stench from

3201-504: The IG Farben's managing board, testified after the war that the company's chief engineer at Auschwitz had told him about the gassings. The general manager of Degesch is said to have learned about the gassings from Kurt Gerstein of the SS. According to the post-war testimony of Rudolf Höss , the Auschwitz commandant, he was asked by Walter Dürrfeld  [ de ] , technical manager of

3298-458: The Leblanc method, and its use spread. In the same year, Ludwig Mond visited Solvay to acquire the rights to use his process, and he and John Brunner formed Brunner, Mond & Co. , and built a Solvay plant at Winnington , England. Mond was instrumental in making the Solvay process a commercial success. He made several refinements between 1873 and 1880 that removed byproducts that could inhibit

3395-511: The Muttenz (Switzerland) based Clariant . The successor companies remain some of the world's largest chemical and pharmaceutical companies. Although IG Farben was officially put into liquidation in 1952, this did not end the company's legal existence. The purpose of a corporation's continuing existence, being "in liquidation", is to ensure an orderly wind-down of its affairs. As almost all its assets and all its activities had been transferred to

3492-462: The Table below. Related industries include petroleum , glass , paint , ink , sealant , adhesive , pharmaceuticals and food processing . Chemical processes such as chemical reactions operate in chemical plants to form new substances in various types of reaction vessels. In many cases, the reactions take place in special corrosion-resistant equipment at elevated temperatures and pressures with

3589-580: The U.S. military instituted good time credits in its war crime program. What remained of IG Farben in the West was split in 1951 into its six constituent companies, then again into three: BASF, Bayer, and Hoechst. These companies continued to operate as an informal cartel and played a major role in the West German Wirtschaftswunder . Following several later mergers the main successor companies are Agfa, BASF, Bayer and Sanofi . In 2004,

3686-505: The U.S. there are 170 major chemical companies. They operate internationally with more than 2,800 facilities outside the U.S. and 1,700 foreign subsidiaries or affiliates operating. The U.S. chemical output is $ 750 billion a year. The U.S. industry records large trade surpluses and employs more than a million people in the United States alone. The chemical industry is also the second largest consumer of energy in manufacturing and spends over $ 5 billion annually on pollution abatement. In Europe,

3783-462: The Western occupation zone, the idea of destroying the company was abandoned as the policy of denazification evolved, in part because of a need for industry to support reconstruction, and in part because of the company's entanglement with American companies, notably the successors of Standard Oil . In 1951, the company was split into its original constituent companies. The four largest quickly bought

3880-465: The areas they controlled. On 30 November 1945, Allied Control Council Law No. 9, "Seizure of Property owned by I.G. Farbenindustrie and the Control Thereof", formalized the seizure for "knowingly and prominently ... building up and maintaining German war potential". The division of property followed the division of Germany into four zones: American , British , French and Soviet . In

3977-650: The birth of the German nation": "The chairman points out our incontestable being in line with the National Socialist attitude in the association of the entire 'Bayer' pharmaceutica and insecticides; beyond that, he requests the heads of the offices abroad to regard it as their self-evident duty to collaborate in a fine and understanding manner with the functionaries of the Party, with the DAF (German Workers' Front), et cetera. Orders to that effect again are to be given to

IG Farben - Misplaced Pages Continue

4074-407: The birth of the heavy chemical industry (production of chemicals in large quantities for a variety of uses) coincided with the beginnings of the Industrial Revolution . One of the first chemicals to be produced in large amounts through industrial processes was sulfuric acid . In 1736 pharmacist Joshua Ward developed a process for its production that involved heating sulfur with saltpeter, allowing

4171-479: The burning bodies. Of course all of the Farben people knew what was going on. Nobody could live in Auschwitz and work in the plant, or even come down to the plant, without knowing what was common knowledge to everybody. Mann, Hörlein and Wurster (directors of both IG Farben and Degesch) were acquitted at the IG Farben trial in 1948 of having supplied Zyklon B for the purpose of mass extermination. The judges ruled that

4268-440: The chemical, plastics, and rubber sectors are among the largest industrial sectors. Together they generate about 3.2 million jobs in more than 60,000 companies. Since 2000 the chemical sector alone has represented 2/3 of the entire manufacturing trade surplus of the EU. In 2012, the chemical sector accounted for 12% of the EU manufacturing industry's added value. Europe remains the world's biggest chemical trading region with 43% of

4365-553: The clustering and integration mentioned above, some 50% of the United Kingdom's petrochemical and commodity chemicals are produced by the Northeast of England Process Industry Cluster on Teesside . Specialty chemical and fine chemical manufacturing are mostly made in discrete batch processes. These manufacturers are often found in similar locations but in many cases, they are to be found in multi-sector business parks. In

4462-459: The company as a United States Justice Department lawyer, quoted an American report: "Without I.G.'s immense productive facilities, its far-reaching research, varied technical expertise and overall concentration of economic power, Germany would not have been in a position to start its aggressive war in September 1939." The company placed its resources, technical capabilities and overseas contacts at

4559-458: The company by the SS for a low daily rate. One of IG Farben's subsidiaries supplied the poison gas, Zyklon B , that killed over one million people in gas chambers. Company executives said after the war that they had not known what was happening inside the camps. According to the historian Peter Hayes , "the killings were an open secret within Farben, and people worked at not reflecting upon what they knew." In 1978, Joseph Borkin, who investigated

4656-456: The company employed no Jews. IG Farben's products included synthetic dyes , nitrile rubber , polyurethane , prontosil , and chloroquine . The nerve agent Sarin was first discovered by IG Farben. The company is perhaps best known for its role in producing the poison gas Zyklon B . One product crucial to the operations of the Wehrmacht was synthetic fuel , made from lignite using

4753-499: The company's records inside the camp, and in the spring of 1945, the company burned and shredded 15 tons of paperwork in Frankfurt. The Americans seized the company's property under "General Order No. 2 pursuant to Military Government Law No. 52", 2 July 1945, which allowed the US to disperse "ownership and control of such of the plants and equipment seized under this order as have not been transferred or destroyed". The French followed suit in

4850-584: The conglomerate in Frankfurt am Main , Germany, was completed in 1931. In 1938, the company had 218,090 employees. IG Farben was controversial on both the far left and far right, partly for the same reasons, related to the size and international nature of the conglomerate and the Jewish background of several of its key leaders and major shareholders . Far-right newspapers of the 1920s and early 1930s, accused it of being an "international capitalist Jewish company". The liberal and business-friendly German People's Party

4947-632: The construction of an IG Farben Buna-N (synthetic rubber) plant—known as Monowitz Buna Werke (or Buna)—near the Monowitz concentration camp , part of the Auschwitz concentration camp complex in German-occupied Poland . (Monowitz came to be known as Auschwitz III; Auschwitz I was the administrative centre and Auschwitz II-Birkenau the extermination camp.) The IG Farben plant's workforce consisted of slave labour from Auschwitz, leased to

SECTION 50

#1732764808902

5044-836: The consumer. Annually the American Chemistry Council tabulates the US production volume of the top 100 chemicals. In 2000, the aggregate production volume of the top 100 chemicals totaled 502 million tons, up from 397 million tons in 1990. Inorganic chemicals tend to be the largest volume but much smaller in dollar revenue due to their low prices. The top 11 of the 100 chemicals in 2000 were sulfuric acid (44 million tons), nitrogen (34), ethylene (28), oxygen (27), lime (22), ammonia (17), propylene (16), polyethylene (15), chlorine (13), phosphoric acid (13) and diammonium phosphates (12). The largest chemical producers today are global companies with international operations and plants in numerous countries. Below

5141-779: The data from the European Chemical Industry Council shows that five European countries account for 71% of the EU's chemicals sales. These are Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Italy and the Netherlands. The chemical industry has seen growth in China, India, Korea, the Middle East, South East Asia, Nigeria and Brazil. The growth is driven by changes in feedstock availability and price, labor and energy costs, differential rates of economic growth and environmental pressures. Just as companies emerge as

5238-546: The dollar output of the chemistry business) include differentiated chemical and biological substances, pharmaceuticals , diagnostics, animal health products , vitamins , and pesticides . While much smaller in volume than other chemical sectors, their products tend to have high prices - over ten dollars per pound - growth rates of 1.5 to 6 times GDP , and research and development spending at 15 to 25% of sales. Life science products are usually produced with high specifications and are closely scrutinized by government agencies such as

5335-402: The drugs the women would experience circulation problems, bloody vomiting, and painful diarrhea "containing fragments of mucus membrane". Of the 50 typhoid sufferers given 3852, 15 died; 40 of the 75 tuberculosis patients given Rutenol died. For one experiment, which tested an anaesthetic, Bayer had 150 women sent from Auschwitz to its own facility. They paid RM 150 per woman, all of whom died as

5432-515: The experiments were conducted in Birkenau in Block 20, the women's camp hospital. The patients were suffering from, and in many cases had been deliberately infected with, typhoid , tuberculosis , diphtheria and other diseases, then were given preparations named Rutenol, Periston, B-1012, B-1034, B-1036, 3582 and P-111. According to prisoner-physicians who witnessed the experiments, after being given

5529-624: The factories and imposed heavy fines on those exceeding the limits on pollution. Methods were devised to make useful byproducts from the alkali. The Solvay process was developed by the Belgian industrial chemist Ernest Solvay in 1861. In 1864, Solvay and his brother Alfred constructed a plant in Charleroi Belgium. In 1874, they expanded into a larger plant in Nancy , France. The new process proved more economical and less polluting than

5626-433: The first synthetic perfumes. German industry quickly began to dominate the field of synthetic dyes. The three major firms BASF , Bayer , and Hoechst produced several hundred different dyes. By 1913, German industries produced almost 90% of the world's supply of dyestuffs and sold approximately 80% of their production abroad. In the United States, Herbert Henry Dow's use of electrochemistry to produce chemicals from brine

5723-414: The former captive labourers for its inability to be legally dissolved and have the remaining assets distributed as reparations. On 10 November 2003, its liquidators filed for insolvency , but this did not affect the existence of the company as a legal entity. While it did not join a national compensation fund set up in 2001 to pay the victims, it contributed 500,000 DM (£160,000 stg or €255,646) towards

5820-403: The gas to Auschwitz to fumigate clothing that was infested with lice, which carried typhus . Fumigation took place within a closed room, but it was a slow process, so Degesch recommended building small gas chambers, which heated the gas to over 30 °C and killed the lice within one hour. The idea was that the inmates would be shaved and showered while their clothes were being fumigated. The gas

5917-517: The invention and development of chemical high pressure methods", and Gerhard Domagk in 1939 "for the discovery of the antibacterial effects of prontosil ". In the 1920s, the company had ties to the liberal German People's Party and was accused by the Nazis of being an "international capitalist Jewish company". A decade later, it was a Nazi Party donor and, after the Nazi takeover of Germany in 1933,

SECTION 60

#1732764808902

6014-688: The largest of scales are made in a few manufacturing locations around the world, for example in Texas and Louisiana along the Gulf Coast of the United States , on Teesside ( United Kingdom ), and in Rotterdam in the Netherlands . The large-scale manufacturing locations often have clusters of manufacturing units that share utilities and large-scale infrastructure such as power stations , port facilities , and road and rail terminals. To demonstrate

6111-697: The largest revenue segment and includes all categories of plastics and human-made fibers. The major markets for plastics are packaging , followed by home construction, containers, appliances, pipe, transportation, toys, and games. Principal raw materials for polymers are bulk petrochemicals like ethylene, propylene and benzene. Petrochemicals and intermediate chemicals are primarily made from liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), natural gas and crude oil fractions. Large volume products include ethylene , propylene , benzene , toluene , xylenes , methanol , vinyl chloride monomer (VCM), styrene , butadiene , and ethylene oxide . These basic or commodity chemicals are

6208-517: The leading German gentlemen so that there may be no misunderstanding in their execution." By 1943, IG Farben was manufacturing products worth three billion marks in 334 facilities in occupied Europe; almost half its workforce of 330,000 men and women consisted of slave labour or conscripts, including 30,000 Auschwitz prisoners. Altogether its annual net profit was around 500 million  ℛ︁ℳ︁ (equivalent to 2 billion 2021 euros). In 1945, according to Raymond G. Stokes , it manufactured all

6305-450: The main producers of the chemical industry, we can also look on a more global scale at how industrialized countries rank, with regard to the billions of dollars worth of production a country or region could export. Though the business of chemistry is worldwide in scope, the bulk of the world's $ 3.7 trillion chemical output is accounted for by only a handful of industrialized nations. The United States alone produced $ 689 billion, 18.6 percent of

6402-535: The manufacture of superphosphate of lime . Processes for the vulcanization of rubber were patented by Charles Goodyear in the United States and Thomas Hancock in England in the 1840s. The first synthetic dye was discovered by William Henry Perkin in London . He partly transformed aniline into a crude mixture which, when extracted with alcohol, produced a substance with an intense purple colour. He also developed

6499-606: The materials used in home construction. These specialty products are marketed by chemical companies to the downstream manufacturing industries as pesticides , specialty polymers , electronic chemicals, surfactants , construction chemicals, Industrial Cleaners, flavours and fragrances , specialty coatings, printing inks, water-soluble polymers, food additives , paper chemicals , oil field chemicals, plastic adhesives, adhesives and sealants , cosmetic chemicals , water management chemicals , catalysts , and textile chemicals. Chemical companies rarely supply these products directly to

6596-459: The original constituent companies, IG Farben was from 1952, largely a shell company with no real activity. In 2001, IG Farben announced that it would formally wind up its affairs in 2003. It had been continually criticized over the years for failing to pay compensation to the former labourers; its stated reason for its continued existence after 1952 was to administer its claims and pay its debts. The company, in turn, blamed ongoing legal disputes with

6693-590: The original on 22 September 2018. "IG Farben-Haus, Geschichte und Gegenwart" (in German). Fritz Bauer Institute . Archived from the original on 14 March 2007. "Kontrollratsgesetz Nr. 9" . Verfassungen der Welt . www.verfassungen.de. Archived from the original on 19 April 2017. Books and articles Chemical industry Various professionals are involved in the chemical industry including chemical engineers, chemists and lab technicians. Although chemicals were made and used throughout history,

6790-498: The poison gas Zyklon B , which killed over one million people in gas chambers during the Holocaust . The Allies seized the company at the end of the war in 1945 and the US authorities put its directors on trial. Held from 1947 to 1948 as one of the subsequent Nuremberg trials , the IG Farben trial saw 23 IG Farben directors tried for war crimes and 13 convicted. However, by 1951 all of them were released from prison early after

6887-437: The product line. The late 19th century saw an explosion in both the quantity of production and the variety of chemicals that were manufactured. Large chemical industries arose in Germany and later in the United States. Production of artificial manufactured fertilizer for agriculture was pioneered by Sir John Lawes at his purpose-built Rothamsted Research facility. In the 1840s he established large works near London for

6984-578: The product will meet required specifications . More organizations within the industry are implementing chemical compliance software to maintain quality products and manufacturing standards. The products are packaged and delivered by many methods, including pipelines, tank-cars, and tank-trucks (for both solids and liquids), cylinders, drums, bottles, and boxes. Chemical companies often have a research-and-development laboratory for developing and testing products and processes. These facilities may include pilot plants and such research facilities may be located at

7081-691: The production of sodium carbonate in the process. The manufacture of chemical products from fossil fuels began at scale in the early 19th century. The coal tar and ammoniacal liquor residues of coal gas manufacture for gas lighting began to be processed in 1822 at the Bonnington Chemical Works in Edinburgh to make naphtha , pitch oil (later called creosote ), pitch , lampblack ( carbon black ) and sal ammoniac ( ammonium chloride ). Ammonium sulphate fertiliser, asphalt road surfacing , coke oil and coke were later added to

7178-410: The prosecution had not shown that the defendants or executive board "had any persuasive influence on the management policies of Degesch or any significant knowledge as to the uses to which its production was being put". In 1949, Mann became head of pharmaceutical sales at Bayer . Hörlein became chair of Bayer's supervisory board. Wurster became chair of the IG Farben board, helped to reestablish BASF as

7275-400: The revenue output) make up the oldest of the chemical categories. Products include salt , chlorine , caustic soda , soda ash , acids (such as nitric acid , phosphoric acid , and sulfuric acid ), titanium dioxide , and hydrogen peroxide . Fertilizers are the smallest category (about 6 percent) and include phosphates , ammonia , and potash chemicals. Life sciences (about 30% of

7372-632: The same price." Between 1942 and 1945, a cyanide -based pesticide, Zyklon B , was used to kill over one million people, mostly Jews, in gas chambers in Europe, including in the Auschwitz II and Majdanek extermination camps in German-occupied Poland. The poison gas was supplied by an IG Farben subsidiary, Degesch (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Schädlingsbekämpfung MbH, or German Company for Pest Control). Degesch originally supplied

7469-656: The smaller ones. In January 1955, the Allied High Commission issued the I.G. Liquidation Conclusion Law, naming IG Farben's legal successor as IG Farbenindustrie AG in Abwicklung (IGiA) ("I.G. Farbenindustrie AG in Liquidation). In 1947, the American government put IG Farben's directors on trial. The United States of America vs. Carl Krauch, et al. (1947–1948), also known as the IG Farben trial,

7566-475: The starting materials used to manufacture many polymers and other more complex organic chemicals particularly those that are made for use in the specialty chemicals category. Other derivatives and basic industrials include synthetic rubber , surfactants , dyes and pigments , turpentine , resins , carbon black , explosives , and rubber products and contribute about 20 percent of the basic chemicals' external sales. Inorganic chemicals (about 12% of

7663-546: The sulfur to oxidize and combine with water. It was the first practical production of sulphuric acid on a large scale. John Roebuck and Samuel Garbett were the first to establish a large-scale factory in Prestonpans, Scotland , in 1749, which used leaden condensing chambers for the manufacture of sulfuric acid. In the early 18th century, cloth was bleached by treating it with stale urine or sour milk and exposing it to sunlight for long periods of time, which created

7760-714: The synthetic rubber and methanol in Germany, 90 percent of its plastic and "organic intermediates", 84 percent of its explosives, 75 percent of its nitrogen and solvents , around 50 percent of its pharmaceuticals, and around 33 percent of its synthetic fuel . Staff of the Bayer group at IG Farben conducted medical experiments on concentration-camp inmates at Auschwitz and at the Mauthausen concentration camp . At Auschwitz they were led by Bayer employee Helmuth Vetter , an Auschwitz camp physician and SS captain, and Auschwitz physicians Friedrich Entress and Eduard Wirths . Most of

7857-509: The top-level decision-making of the leading German chemical firms, which was in the hands of professional salaried managers. Because of this unique situation, the economic historian Alfred Chandler called the German dye companies "the world's first truly managerial industrial enterprises". With the world market for synthetic dyes and other chemical products dominated by the German industry, German firms competed vigorously for market shares. Although cartels were attempted, they lasted at most for

7954-1012: The total world chemical output in 2008. Chemische Fabrik Kalle Look for Chemische Fabrik Kalle on one of Misplaced Pages's sister projects : [REDACTED] Wiktionary (dictionary) [REDACTED] Wikibooks (textbooks) [REDACTED] Wikiquote (quotations) [REDACTED] Wikisource (library) [REDACTED] Wikiversity (learning resources) [REDACTED] Commons (media) [REDACTED] Wikivoyage (travel guide) [REDACTED] Wikinews (news source) [REDACTED] Wikidata (linked database) [REDACTED] Wikispecies (species directory) Misplaced Pages does not have an article with this exact name. Please search for Chemische Fabrik Kalle in Misplaced Pages to check for alternative titles or spellings. You need to log in or create an account and be autoconfirmed to create new articles. Alternatively, you can use

8051-458: The use of catalysts . The products of these reactions are separated using a variety of techniques including distillation especially fractional distillation , precipitation , crystallization , adsorption , filtration , sublimation , and drying . The processes and products or products are usually tested during and after manufacture by dedicated instruments and on-site quality control laboratories to ensure safe operation and to assure that

8148-420: The world supply of dyestuffs and sold about 80 percent of their production abroad. The three major firms had also integrated upstream into the production of essential raw materials, and they began to expand into other areas of chemistry such as pharmaceuticals , photographic film , agricultural chemicals and electrochemicals . Contrary to other industries, the founders and their families had little influence on

8245-430: The world's exports and 37% of the world's imports, although the latest data shows that Asia is catching up with 34% of the exports and 37% of imports. Even so, Europe still has a trading surplus with all regions of the world except Japan and China where in 2011 there was a chemical trade balance. Europe's trade surplus with the rest of the world today amounts to 41.7 billion Euros. Over the 20 years between 1991 and 2011,

8342-440: Was a commercial success that helped to promote the country's chemical industry. The petrochemical industry can be traced back to the oil works of Scottish chemist James Young , and Canadian Abraham Pineo Gesner . The first plastic was invented by Alexander Parkes , an English metallurgist . In 1856, he patented Parkesine , a celluloid based on nitrocellulose treated with a variety of solvents. This material, exhibited at

8439-477: Was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1939 "for the discovery of the antibacterial effects of prontosil ". IG Farben has been described as "the most notorious German industrial concern during the Third Reich ". When World War II began, it was the fourth largest corporation in the world and the largest in Europe. In February 1941, Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler signed an order supporting

8536-738: Was first used on human beings in Auschwitz (650 Soviet POWs and 200 others) in September 1941. Peter Hayes compiled the following table showing the increase in Zyklon B ordered by Auschwitz (figures with an asterisk are incomplete). One ton of Zyklon B was enough to kill around 312,500 people. Several IG Farben executives said after the war that they did not know about the gassings, despite the increase in sales of Zyklon B to Auschwitz. IG Farben owned 42.5 percent of Degesch shares, and three members of Degesch's 11-person executive board, Wilhelm Rudolf Mann , Heinrich Hörlein and Carl Wurster , were directors of IG Farben. Mann, who had been an SA - Sturmführer ,

8633-550: Was formed, also known as the Dreibund or little IG. Profits of the three firms were pooled, with BASF and Bayer getting 43 percent each and Agfa 14 percent of all profits. The two alliances were loosely connected with each other through an agreement between BASF and Hoechst to jointly exploit the patent on the Heumann-Pfleger indigo synthesis . Within the Dreibund , Bayer and BASF concentrated on dye, while Agfa increasingly concentrated on photographic film. Although there

8730-473: Was its most pronounced supporter. Not a single member of the management of IG Farben before 1933 supported the Nazi Party; four members, or a third, of the IG Farben supervisory board were themselves Jewish. The company ended up being the "largest single contribution" to the successful Nazi election campaign of 1933; there is also evidence of "secret contributions" to the party in 1931 and 1932. Throughout

8827-525: Was losing the war. In September 1944, Fritz ter Meer , a member of IG Farben's supervisory board and future chair of Bayer's board of directors, and Ernst Struss, secretary of the company's managing board, are said to have made plans to destroy company files in Frankfurt in the event of an American invasion. As the Red Army approached Auschwitz in January 1945 to liberate it , IG Farben reportedly destroyed

8924-431: Was once the largest company in Europe and the largest chemical and pharmaceutical company in the world. IG Farben scientists made fundamental contributions to all areas of chemistry and the pharmaceutical industry. Otto Bayer discovered the polyaddition for the synthesis of polyurethane in 1937, and three company scientists became Nobel laureates : Carl Bosch and Friedrich Bergius in 1931 "for their contributions to

9021-445: Was some cooperation between the technical staff in production and accounting, there was little cooperation between the firms in other areas. Neither were production or distribution facilities consolidated nor did the commercial staff cooperate. In 1908 Hoechst and Cassella acquired 88 percent of the shares of Chemische Fabrik Kalle. As Hoechst, Cassella and Kalle were connected by mutual equity shares and were located close to each other in

9118-471: Was the chair of Degesch's board. Peter Hayes writes that the board did not meet after 1940, and that although Mann "continued to review the monthly sales figures for Degesch, he could not necessarily have inferred from them the uses to which the Auschwitz camp was putting the product". IG Farben executives did visit Auschwitz but not Auschwitz II-Birkenau , where the gas chambers were located. Other IG Farben staff appear to have known. Ernst Struss, secretary of

9215-617: Was the chief counsel for the prosecution. Thirteen defendants were found guilty, with sentences ranging from 18 months to eight years. All were cleared of the first count of waging war. The heaviest sentences went to those involved with Auschwitz, which was IG Farben's Upper Rhine group. Ambros, Bütefisch, Dürrfeld, Krauch and ter Meer were convicted of "participating in ... enslavement and deportation for slave labor". All defendants who were sentenced to prison received early release. Most were quickly restored to their directorships and other positions in post-war companies, and some were awarded

9312-533: Was the nominal survivor; all shares were exchanged for BASF shares. Similar mergers took place in other countries. In the United Kingdom Brunner Mond , Nobel Industries , United Alkali Company and British Dyestuffs merged to form Imperial Chemical Industries in September 1926. In France Établissements Poulenc Frères and Société Chimique des Usines du Rhône merged to form Rhône-Poulenc in 1928. The IG Farben Building , headquarters for

9409-552: Was the sixth of 12 trials for war crimes the U.S. authorities held in their occupation zone in Germany ( Nuremberg ) against leading industrialists of Nazi Germany . There were five counts against the IG Farben directors: Of the 24 defendants arraigned , one fell ill and his case was discontinued. The indictment was filed on 3 May 1947; the trial lasted from 27 August 1947 until 30 July 1948. The judges were Curtis Grover Shake (presiding), James Morris , Paul M. Hebert , and Clarence F. Merrell as an alternate judge. Telford Taylor

#901098