Editing IG Farben (section)

==Early history==
===Background===
At the beginning of the 20th century, the German chemical industry dominated the world market for synthetic [[dye]]s. Three major firms [[BASF]], [[Bayer]] and [[Hoechst AG|Hoechst]], produced several hundred different dyes. Five smaller firms, [[Agfa-Gevaert|Agfa]], [[Cassella Farbwerke Mainkur Aktiengesellschaft|Cassella]], {{ill|Kalle & Co.|de|Chemische Fabrik Kalle}}, Chemische Fabrik [[Elektron (alloy)|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 the world supply of dyestuffs and sold about 80 percent of their production abroad.<ref>{{Harvnb|Aftalion|Benfey|1991|p=104}}; {{Harvnb|Chandler|2004|p=475}}</ref> 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 [[Drug|pharmaceuticals]], [[photographic film]], [[agrochemical|agricultural chemicals]] and [[Electrochemistry|electrochemicals]]. Contrary to other industries, the founders and their families had little influence on the top-level decision-making of the leading German chemical firms, which was in the hands of professional salaried managers.{{sfn|Chandler|2004|pp=474–485}} Because of this unique situation, the economic historian [[Alfred D. Chandler Jr.|Alfred Chandler]] called the German dye companies "the world's first truly managerial industrial enterprises".{{sfn|Chandler|2004|p=481}}

[[File:Nicola Perscheid - Carl Duisberg vor 1930.jpg|thumb|upright=0.9|[[Carl Duisberg]], chairman of [[Bayer]], argued in 1904 for a merger of Germany's dye and pharmaceutical companies.{{sfn|Beer|1981|pp=124–125}}]]
With the world market for synthetic dyes and other chemical products dominated by the German industry, German firms competed vigorously for market shares. Although [[cartel]]s were attempted, they lasted at most for a few years. Others argued for the formation of a profit pool or ''Interessen-Gemeinschaft'' (abbr. IG, lit. "community of interest").<ref>{{Harvnb|Chandler|2004|p=479}}</ref> 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 [[Trust (19th century)|trusts]] such as [[Standard Oil]], [[U.S. Steel]], [[International Paper]] and [[Alcoa]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Beer|1981|pp=124–125}}</ref> In 1904, after returning to Germany, he proposed a nationwide merger of the producers of dye and pharmaceuticals in a memorandum to Gustav von Brüning, the senior manager at Hoechst.{{sfn|Duisberg|1923}}{{page needed|date=September 2018}}

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 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.<ref>{{Harvnb|Beer|1981|pp=125–134}}</ref> 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 [[Heumann indigo synthesis|indigo synthesis]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Tammen|1978|p=11}}</ref>

Within the ''Dreibund'', Bayer and BASF concentrated on dye, while Agfa increasingly concentrated on photographic film. Although there 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 the [[Frankfurt Rhine Main Region|Frankfurt area]], this allowed them to cooperate more successfully than the ''Dreibund'', although they also did not rationalize or consolidate their production facilities.{{sfn|Chandler|2004|p=480}}
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IG Farben during World War I, expansion into ammonia, nerve gases, war production, formation of IG in 1916-->
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===Foundation===
{{see also|IG Farben Building}}
{{wide image|IG Farben Gebaeude Uni Frankfurt.jpg|800px|Completed in 1930, the [[IG Farben Building]] in Frankfurt was seized by the Americans after the war. In 1996 it was transferred to the German government and in 2001 to the [[Goethe University Frankfurt|University of Frankfurt]].}}
[[File:IG Farben AG 1925.jpg|thumb|left|Share of the I. G. Farbenindustrie AG, issued in December 1925]] Following a contract signed by all concerned parties on November 21, 1925, IG Farben was founded on December 2, 1925 as a merger of six companies: [[BASF]] (27.4 percent of equity capital); [[Bayer]] (27.4 percent); [[Hoechst AG|Hoechst]], including [[Cassella Farbwerke Mainkur Aktiengesellschaft|Cassella]] and Chemische Fabrik Kalle (27.4 percent); [[Agfa-Gevaert|Agfa]] (9 percent); Chemische Fabrik Griesheim-Elektron (6.9 percent); and Chemische Fabrik vorm. Weiler Ter Meer (1.9 percent).<ref name="Tammen 1978 195">{{Harvnb|Tammen|1978|p=195}}</ref> The supervisory board members became widely known as, and were said to call themselves jokingly, the "Council of Gods" (''Rat der Götter'').<ref>Kaiser, Arvid (16 August 2015). [http://www.manager-magazin.de/unternehmen/artikel/die-weltmarktfuehrer-von-gestern-a-1037371-7.html "Die Weltmarktführer von gestern"], ''manager magazin''.</ref> The designation was used as the title of an [[East Germany|East German]] film, ''[[The Council of the Gods]]'' (1950).

[[File:IGFarbenGoetterrat.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Painting from [[Hermann Groeber]], The IG Farben [[supervisory board]], commonly known as the "Council of Gods", in 1926{{efn|Standing, left to right: [[Arthur von Weinberg]], Carl Müller, [[Edmund ter Meer]], [[Adolf Haeuser]], [[Franz Oppenheim]]. Seated: [[Theodor Plieninger]], [[Ernst von Simson]], [[Carl Bosch]], [[Walther vom Rath]], [[Wilhelm Kalle]], [[Carl von Weinberg]] and [[Carl Duisberg]].}}]]
In 1926, IG Farben had a [[market capitalization]] of {{Reichsmark|1.4 billion|link=yes}} (equivalent to {{Inflation|DE|1.4|1926}} billion {{Inflation-year|DE}} 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.<ref name="Tammen 1978 195"/> BASF 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 Enterprises|Nobel Industries]], [[United Alkali Company]] and [[British Dyestuffs Corporation|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.<ref>{{Harvnb|Aftalion|Benfey|1991|pp=140, 143}}</ref> The [[IG Farben Building]], headquarters for the conglomerate in [[Frankfurt|Frankfurt am Main]], Germany, was completed in 1931. In 1938, the company had 218,090 employees.{{sfn|Fiedler|1999|p=49}}

{{confusing section|reason=see talk page|date=December 2020}}
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 {{citation needed|date=May 2023}}. 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]] 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.{{sfn|Bäumler|1988|p=277ff}}

Throughout the 1930s, the company underwent a process of [[Aryanization (Nazism)|Aryanization]], and the company ended up being the "largest single contribution" to the successful Nazi election campaign of 1933;{{sfn|Borkin|1978|p=71}} there is also evidence of "secret contributions" to the party in 1931 and 1932.{{sfn|Sasuly|1947|p=66}}
By 1938 the Jews on the board had resigned and the remaining Jewish employees had been dismissed 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 the company employed no Jews.{{sfn|Hayes|2001|p=196}}

===Products===
[[File:IG Farben 1932.jpg|thumb|left|IG Farben facilities in Germany, 1932]]
IG Farben's products included [[dye|synthetic dyes]], [[nitrile rubber]], [[polyurethane]], [[prontosil]], and [[chloroquine]]. The [[nerve agent]] [[Sarin]] was first discovered by IG Farben.{{sfn|Evans|2008|p=669}} 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 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.{{sfn|Nicholson|2006|p=61}} 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".<ref name=BoschBergiusNobel>{{cite web|url=http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1931/index.html|title=The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1931|publisher=Nobel Foundation|access-date=27 October 2008}}; {{cite web |title=Carl Bosch |url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/1931/bosch/biographical/ |publisher=Nobel Foundation}}{{pb}} {{cite web |title=Carl Bosch (1874–1940) |url=http://www.wollheim-memorial.de/en/carl_bosch_18741940 |publisher=Wollheim Memorial |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161009182510/http://www.wollheim-memorial.de/en/carl_bosch_18741940 |archive-date=9 October 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Gerhard Domagk]] was awarded the [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine]] in 1939 "for the discovery of the antibacterial effects of [[prontosil]]".<ref name=DomagkNobel>{{cite web|url=http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1939/|title=The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1939|publisher=Nobel Foundation|access-date=27 October 2008}}; {{cite web |title=Gerhard Domagk |url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/1939/domagk/biographical/ |publisher=Nobel Foundation}}</ref><!--not much involvement with IG Farben:[[Kurt Alder]] was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (with [[Otto Diels]]) in 1950 "for his [their] discovery and development of the diene synthesis".<ref name=AdlerNobel>{{cite web|url=http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1950/index.html|title=The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1950|publisher=Nobel Foundation|access-date=27 October 2008}}; {{cite web |title=Kurt Alder |url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/1950/alder/biographical/ |publisher=Nobel Foundation}}</ref>-->