IG Farben

I.G. Farbenindustrie AG
Company type	Aktiengesellschaft
Industry	Chemical and pharmaceutical
Predecessor	Agfa, BASF, Bayer, Griesheim-Elektron, Hoechst, Weiler-ter-Meer
Founded	December 2, 1925; 100 years ago
Defunct	1952
Fate	Confiscated by Allies and dismantled into original constituent firms
Headquarters	Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Area served	Europe, worldwide
Products	Synthetic dyes, nitrile rubber, polyurethane, prontosil, chloroquine, Sarin, Zyklon B, synthetic fuel
Number of employees	330,000 (1943)

I. G. Farbenindustrie AG, widely recognized as IG Farben, was a German conglomerate operating in the chemical and pharmaceutical sectors. It was established on December 2, 1925, through the consolidation of six chemical enterprises: Agfa, BASF, Bayer, Griesheim-Elektron, Hoechst, and Weiler-ter-Meer. Following World War II, the company was confiscated by the Allies and dismantled into its original constituent firms; assets located in East Germany were nationalized.

At one time, IG Farben held the distinction of being Europe's largest corporation and the most extensive chemical and pharmaceutical company worldwide. Its researchers made pioneering advances in chemistry and medicine. For instance, Otto Bayer developed the polyaddition process for producing polyurethane in 1937. Additionally, three scientists affiliated with IG Farben received Nobel Prizes: Carl Bosch and Friedrich Bergius were honored in 1931 for their work on high-pressure chemical techniques, while Gerhard Domagk earned the prize in 1939 for identifying the antibacterial properties of prontosil.

During the 1920s, IG Farben maintained connections with the liberal nationalist German People's Party, but later faced accusations from the Nazis labeling it an "international capitalist Jewish enterprise." By the 1930s, under Nazi governance, it became a significant supplier to the government, providing essential materials for Germany's military campaigns. The firm dismissed its Jewish workforce by 1938. Throughout the Third Reich era, IG Farben exploited forced labor sourced from concentration camps, including approximately 30,000 prisoners from Auschwitz, and participated in medical experiments on detainees at Auschwitz and Mauthausen. One subsidiary produced Zyklon B gas utilized in the Holocaust extermination chambers.

Post-war Allied forces seized IG Farben in 1945 and prosecuted 23 executives for war crimes during the IG Farben trial (1947–48), resulting in convictions for 13 individuals. By 1951, all convicted persons were released prematurely. The remaining corporate assets within West Germany were divided back into the original six companies, which later merged into BASF, Bayer, and Hoechst. These successor entities played pivotal roles in West Germany’s economic resurgence (Wirtschaftswunder). Subsequent consolidations have led to key successors such as Agfa, BASF, Bayer, and Sanofi. Since 2004, Goethe University Frankfurt has honored victims of forced labor with a permanent exhibition at the former IG Farben headquarters.

Background

At the dawn of the 20th century, Germany dominated global production of synthetic dyes. Three principal companies—BASF, Bayer, and Hoechst—manufactured several hundred dye varieties. Additionally, five smaller firms including Agfa and Cassella specialized in producing high-quality specialty dyes. By 1913, these eight companies accounted for nearly 90% of worldwide dyestuff supply and exported roughly 80% of their products. The leading three corporations integrated vertically into raw material manufacturing and diversified into pharmaceuticals, photographic films, agrochemicals, and electrochemicals. Unlike many other industries where founders or families retained control, these German dye manufacturers operated under professional managerial leadership—a factor Alfred Chandler described as making them "the world's first truly managerial industrial enterprises."

With German firms dominating synthetic dye markets globally, competition was fierce. Attempts to establish cartels proved unstable; some stakeholders preferred forming a profit-sharing arrangement or Interessen-Gemeinschaft (IG, meaning "community of interest"). Bayer’s chairman Carl Duisberg advocated for a full merger after observing major American conglomerates such as Standard Oil and U.S. Steel during a visit to the United States in 1903. In 1904, he proposed merging dye and pharmaceutical producers in a memorandum addressed to Hoechst’s senior executive Gustav von Brüning.

While Hoechst and some pharmaceutical firms declined participation, Hoechst and Cassella formed an alliance through cross-shareholdings that same year. This development prompted Duisberg along with BASF chairman Heinrich von Brunck to expedite negotiations resulting in an Interessen-Gemeinschaft among Bayer, BASF, and Agfa in October 1904—referred to as the Dreibund or "little IG." Profits were pooled with BASF and Bayer each receiving 43%, while Agfa obtained 14%. These two alliances maintained loose connections via a BASF-Hoechst agreement to jointly exploit the Heumann-Pfleger indigo synthesis patent.

Within this Dreibund, Bayer and BASF concentrated on dye production whereas Agfa increasingly specialized in photographic film. Technical collaboration occurred primarily in manufacturing processes and accounting systems; however, production operations and distribution channels remained separate with no joint commercial activities. In 1908, Hoechst and Cassella acquired an 88% stake in Chemische Fabrik Kalle shares. Their mutual equity interests combined with geographic proximity near Frankfurt facilitated closer cooperation than within the Dreibund, although they still refrained from consolidating manufacturing facilities.

Foundation

IG Farben was established on December 2, 1925, through the consolidation of six companies: BASF (holding 27.4%), Bayer (27.4%), Hoechst (including Cassella and Chemische Fabrik Kalle) (27.4%), Agfa (9%), Chemische Fabrik Griesheim-Elektron (6.9%), and Chemische Fabrik vorm. Weiler Ter Meer (1.9%). The supervisory board, often referred to as the "Council of Gods" (Rat der Götter), became well-known for its considerable authority.

By 1926, IG Farben's market capitalization reached , employing around 100,000 individuals, of whom 2.6% held university degrees and 18.2% were salaried professionals. BASF served as the nominal surviving entity, with all shares converted into BASF stock. Comparable mergers took place internationally: in the United Kingdom with the formation of Imperial Chemical Industries in 1926, and in France with Rhône-Poulenc in 1928. The IG Farben Building, serving as the company headquarters, was completed in 1931. Employee numbers grew to 218,090 by 1938.

IG Farben attracted criticism from both political extremes due to its vast size, global operations, and the Jewish backgrounds of several prominent leaders and shareholders. While far-right media branded it an "international capitalist Jewish company," it enjoyed support from the liberal German People's Party. Prior to 1933, none of the management endorsed the Nazi Party; approximately one-third of supervisory board members were Jewish.

Throughout the 1930s, IG Farben underwent Aryanization and became a significant financial backer of the Nazi Party’s successful election campaign in 1933, including covert donations in earlier years. By 1938, Jewish members of the board had resigned and Jewish employees were dismissed following Hermann Göring’s decree linked to the Nazi Four Year Plan, which required companies to exclude Jewish workers to qualify for government foreign exchange support.

Products

IG Farben's range of products encompassed synthetic dyes, nitrile rubber, polyurethane, prontosil, and chloroquine. The company is credited with discovering the nerve agent Sarin and is infamously recognized for manufacturing the poison gas Zyklon B. Synthetic fuel production from lignite via coal liquefaction was a critical resource supplied to the Wehrmacht.

Scientists affiliated with IG Farben made notable advances in chemistry. In 1937, Otto Bayer developed the polyaddition method for producing polyurethane. Several researchers connected to IG Farben were awarded Nobel Prizes: Carl Bosch and Friedrich Bergius received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1931 for pioneering high-pressure chemical techniques, while Gerhard Domagk earned the 1939 Nobel Prize in Medicine for identifying prontosil's antibacterial properties.

Expansion and forced labor

During the Third Reich, IG Farben earned a reputation as "the most infamous German industrial enterprise." At the outbreak of World War II, it ranked as the fourth largest corporation globally and was Europe's biggest company. In 1941, Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler authorized construction of a synthetic rubber facility—Monowitz Buna Werke—adjacent to the Monowitz concentration camp (Auschwitz III) located in Nazi-occupied Poland. The workforce primarily consisted of Auschwitz prisoners forced into labor leased cheaply by the SS. An IG Farben subsidiary provided Zyklon B gas used for mass extermination.

Following the war, company executives denied awareness of atrocities at concentration camps; however, historian Peter Hayes observed that such killings were widely known within Farben circles, with staff consciously avoiding acknowledgment.

Joseph Borkin, a U.S. Justice Department attorney investigating IG Farben in 1978, asserted: "Without I.G.'s vast production capabilities, research expertise, technical knowledge, and economic strength, Germany would have been unable to initiate its aggressive war in 1939." The company closely aligned with Nazi policies; a 1937 Commercial Committee meeting decreed that overseas agents must demonstrate loyalty to National Socialist Germany and be provided with Nazi propaganda materials. By 1938, Bayer division executives stressed cooperation with Nazi Party officials abroad as an obligation.

By 1943, IG Farben operated 334 facilities throughout occupied Europe with products valued at three billion Reichsmarks. Nearly half of its workforce totaling 330,000 were either forced laborers or conscripts, including approximately 30,000 prisoners from Auschwitz. Its annual net profit amounted to about , equivalent to roughly billion euros today. In 1945, IG Farben was responsible for producing all synthetic rubber and methanol in Germany; accounted for 90% of plastics and organic intermediates; manufactured 84% of explosives; supplied 75% of nitrogen and solvents; produced around half of pharmaceuticals; and generated one-third of synthetic fuel nationwide.

Medical experiments

Personnel from Bayer working under IG Farben carried out medical tests on inmates held in concentration camps at Auschwitz and Mauthausen. At Auschwitz, these experiments were primarily conducted in the women's camp hospital (Block 20) within Birkenau, overseen by Bayer staff member Helmuth Vetter alongside camp doctors Friedrich Entress and Eduard Wirths. Many patients were intentionally infected with diseases such as typhoid, tuberculosis, and diphtheria before being administered experimental medications including Rutenol, Periston, B-1012, B-1034, B-1036, 3582, and P-111. Witness accounts described severe side effects like circulatory failure, bloody vomiting, and intense diarrhea. Of the 50 typhoid patients treated with 3852, 15 died; similarly, 40 out of 75 tuberculosis patients given Rutenol perished.

In a separate anaesthetic trial, Bayer arranged for 150 women to be transferred from Auschwitz to a Bayer-operated facility at a negotiated cost of RM 150 per individual—down from the camp's initial RM 200 demand. Tragically, all these women died as a result of the experiments. Following this, a Bayer representative wrote to Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Höss requesting an additional group after the first cohort succumbed during testing.

Zyklon B

From 1942 until 1945, Zyklon B—a cyanide-based pesticide—was employed to murder over one million people, predominantly Jews, in gas chambers located at extermination camps such as Auschwitz II and Majdanek in Nazi-occupied Poland. This lethal gas was supplied by Degesch, a subsidiary company of IG Farben. Originally developed to fumigate clothing infested with lice to prevent typhus outbreaks, Degesch proposed constructing small gas chambers to accelerate the fumigation process. The first human use of Zyklon B at Auschwitz occurred in September 1941.

Historian Peter Hayes documented a significant rise in Zyklon B orders from Auschwitz, noting that one ton of the chemical had the capacity to kill around 312,500 individuals.

Zyklon B production and sales data, 1938–1945
	1938	1939	1940	1941	1942	1943	1944
Sales (thousands of marks)	257	337	448	366	506	544
Percentage of total Degesch revenue	30	38	57	48	39	52
Production (short tons)	160	180	242	194	321	411	231
Volume ordered by Auschwitz (short tons)					8.2	13.4	2.2*
Percentage of production ordered by Auschwitz					2.5	3.3	1.0*
Volume ordered by Mauthausen (not an extermination camp)					0.9	1.5

Several top executives within IG Farben professed ignorance regarding the use of Zyklon B for mass killings despite the growing volume of shipments to Auschwitz. IG Farben owned a substantial stake of approximately 42.5% in Degesch; furthermore, three Degesch board members—Wilhelm Rudolf Mann, Heinrich Hörlein, and Carl Wurster—also held directorships at IG Farben. Mann served as chairman of Degesch’s board until meetings ceased after the year 1940. Although Mann reviewed monthly sales reports, he reportedly claimed he could not deduce the product’s application at Auschwitz. While IG Farben officials visited Auschwitz where only a smaller gas chamber was present, they did not tour Auschwitz II-Birkenau—the site of large-scale industrialized gas chambers.

Other employees within IG Farben appeared to have knowledge: Ernst Struss testified that the company’s chief engineer stationed at Auschwitz informed him about the exterminations. The general manager of Degesch reportedly became aware through SS officer Kurt Gerstein. According to Rudolf Höss, commandant of Auschwitz, Walter Dürrfeld—IG Farben’s technical manager at Auschwitz—asked about Jewish cremations; Höss inferred that Dürrfeld must have been aware of the killings. Dürrfeld denied any such knowledge.

Hayes highlights that prisoners working at Auschwitz III—where forced labor was supplied for IG Farben—were conscious of the gas chambers due to odors from crematoria and threats from supervisors warning that refusal to work could result in gassings. British prisoner of war Charles Coward testified that all personnel involved with or visiting the plant were aware of the mass exterminations.

At the IG Farben trial held in 1948, Mann, Hörlein, and Wurster were acquitted on charges related to knowingly providing Zyklon B for genocidal purposes; the court found insufficient proof that they influenced Degesch’s policies or understood its use in killings. After the trial concluded, Mann assumed leadership over pharmaceutical sales at Bayer; Hörlein became chairman of Bayer’s supervisory board; Wurster led IG Farben’s board and played a role in reestablishing BASF as an independent company.

Dürrfeld received an eight-year prison sentence but had his term reduced in 1951 by US High Commissioner John McCloy amid political pressures; following release he joined management or supervisory roles within multiple chemical corporations.

Seizure by the Allies

As Germany's defeat became inevitable, IG Farben took measures to eliminate most of its documentation. In September 1944, Fritz ter Meer, a supervisory board member who would later chair Bayer, along with Ernst Struss, devised plans to destroy company archives in Frankfurt should the American forces advance. When the Red Army neared Auschwitz in January 1945, IG Farben reportedly disposed of records there as well; by spring 1945, approximately 15 tons of documents were incinerated and shredded in Frankfurt.

Following Germany’s surrender, the United States confiscated IG Farben’s assets under "General Order No. 2" (dated 2 July 1945), facilitating the redistribution of ownership and control over seized factories and equipment. The French authorities implemented similar actions within their occupation zones. On 30 November 1945, Allied Control Council Law No. 9 officially ratified the seizure, citing IG Farben’s contribution to Germany’s war capabilities. The allocation of assets corresponded with the division of Germany into American, British, French, and Soviet sectors.

In the Western occupation zones, initial plans to dismantle IG Farben were ultimately abandoned as denazification policies shifted—partly due to industrial demands for postwar reconstruction and connections with American enterprises such as the successors of Standard Oil. By 1951, IG Farben was restructured into its original constituent companies; the four largest quickly absorbed smaller firms. In January 1955, the Allied High Commission enacted the I.G. Liquidation Conclusion Law, designating IG Farbenindustrie AG in Abwicklung ("in Liquidation") as the legal successor entity.

IG Farben trial

In 1947, the U.S. government initiated legal proceedings against IG Farben executives in The United States of America vs. Carl Krauch, et al., which was the sixth among twelve Nuremberg Trials aimed at prominent industrialists from Nazi Germany. The indictment encompassed five charges: planning and waging aggressive war, war crimes through plunder and forced labor exploitation, participation in the SS organization, and conspiracy to commit crimes against peace.

Out of 24 defendants initially indicted, one withdrew due to illness. The trial spanned from August 1947 until July 1948 before judges Curtis Grover Shake (presiding), James Morris, Paul M. Hebert, and Clarence F. Merrell. Chief prosecutor was Telford Taylor. Thirteen defendants were convicted with sentences ranging between eighteen months and eight years; all were acquitted on the count related to waging war. The most severe sentences targeted those involved in IG Farben’s operations at Auschwitz.

All individuals sentenced were released ahead of schedule; many subsequently resumed leadership positions within postwar corporations, with some even receiving the Federal Cross of Merit. Key convicted executives included:

Director	Role at IG Farben	Sentence (years)	Career after sentence
Carl Krauch	Chair of supervisory board; Four-Year Plan official	Six	Supervisory board member at Bunawerke Hüls GmbH
Hermann Schmitz	Chief Executive Officer; Reichstag member	Four	Board member at Deutsche Bank; honorary chairman of Rheinische Stahlwerke AG
Fritz ter Meer	Supervisory board member	Seven	Chairman of Bayer AG’s board; director at various companies
Otto Ambros	Supervisory board member; Auschwitz operations manager	Eight	Board member at Chemie Grünenthal; economic advisor in Mannheim
Heinrich Bütefisch	Supervisory board member; head of fuel sector at Auschwitz	Six	Board member at Deutsche Gasolin AG and other firms
Walter Dürrfeld	Technical manager at Auschwitz	Eight
Georg von Schnitzler	Chair of Chemical Committee	Five	President of Deutsch-Ibero-Amerikanische Gesellschaft
Max Ilgner	Supervisory board member	Three	Chairman of a chemical company in Zug
Heinrich Oster	Alternate supervisory board member; BASF board member	Two	Board member at Gelsenberg AG

Those acquitted frequently returned to prominent roles within industry:

Director	Role at IG Farben	Trial outcome	Subsequent positions
Carl Wurster	Board member; head of Upper Rhine group	Acquitted	Led BASF's reestablishment; supervisory boards at Bosch, Degussa, Allianz
Fritz Gajewski	Board member; manager of Agfa division	Acquitted	Chairman of Dynamit Nobel
Christian Schneider		Acquitted	Member of supervisory boards for Süddeutsche Kalkstickstoff-Werke AG and Rheinauer Holzhydrolyse-GmbH
Hans Kühne		Acquitted	Held position at Bayer in Elberfeld
Carl Lautenschläger		Acquitted	Research associate at Bayer in Elberfeld
Wilhelm Rudolf Mann	Head of pharmaceutical sales (Bayer division); SA affiliate	Acquitted	Returned to Bayer role; led GfK and BDI Foreign Trade Committee
Heinrich Gattineau		Acquitted	Served on boards and supervisory councils at WASAG Chemie-AG and Mitteldeutsche Sprengstoff-Werke GmbH

Liquidation

While Agfa, BASF, and Bayer maintained their operations, Hoechst divested its chemical division in 1999, establishing Celanese AG, which later merged with Rhône-Poulenc to form Aventis. Aventis subsequently combined with Sanofi-Synthélabo to become Sanofi. Additionally, in 1997, Hoechst sold another segment to the chemical spin-off of Sandoz, the Muttenz-based company Clariant. These entities continue to rank among the largest chemical and pharmaceutical corporations globally.

Despite entering liquidation in 1952, IG Farben preserved its legal identity to facilitate an orderly dissolution. Having transferred most of its assets and operations to successor firms, IG Farben functioned largely as a non-operational shell.

In 2001, IG Farben announced intentions to complete its formal dissolution by 2003. The company faced persistent criticism for not adequately compensating former workers, attributing its extended existence to ongoing legal disputes concerning reparations. On 10 November 2003, liquidators filed for insolvency, though this did not terminate the company's legal status. IG Farben opted out of the national compensation fund established that year but contributed 500,000 DM (equivalent to approximately £160,000 or €255,646) toward a foundation supporting former forced laborers. Remaining assets valued at DM 21 million (around £6.7 million or €10.7 million) were liquidated.

Annual shareholder meetings held in Frankfurt were frequently met with protests, and shares—still denominated in Reichsmarks—continued trading until early 2012. As of that year, IG Farben legally remained in liquidation. Its stock was delisted on March 9, 2012, and the company was officially removed from Frankfurt’s commercial register on October 31, 2012, marking the conclusion of its legal existence.

IG Farben in media

Film and television

In Alfred Hitchcock's film noir Notorious (1946), IG Farben is portrayed as backing German terrorist activities and uranium ore exploration in Brazil following World War II.
The DEFA production The Council of the Gods (1951), directed by Kurt Maetzig, dramatizes IG Farben’s involvement during World War II and the subsequent trials.
Dennis Hopper plays an arms dealer named IG Farben in the independent film Straight to Hell (1987).
A deleted scene from Repo Man includes a counterfeit business card bearing IG Farben’s name used during a vehicle repossession.
In series eight, episode one ("High Castle") of Foyle's War, IG Farben is connected to forced labor at Monowitz amid investigations into war crimes involving industrialists.

Literature

Thomas Pynchon's novel Gravity's Rainbow prominently features IG Farben as the producer of the synthetic plastic "Imipolex G."
The company appears within Philip K. Dick’s alternate history novel The Man in the High Castle.
In Kurt Vonnegut’s Hocus Pocus, IG Farben is depicted as the German consortium acquiring Du Pont.

Games

Within Paradox Interactive’s Hearts of Iron series, IG Farben is one of several German design companies—alongside Siemens and Krupp—that provide technology research bonuses.

External links

1925 – 1944 / New High-Pressure Syntheses provided by IG Farben successor BASF
I.G. Farbenindustrie AG (1925–1945) available from IG Farben successor Bayer
Historie offered by IG Farben successor Sanofi
Stock Market Prices for IG Farben