Editing IG Farben (section)

==World War II and the Holocaust==
===Growth and slave labour===
{{further|Monowitz concentration camp#Buna Werke}}
{{multiple image
 | align = right
 | direction = vertical
 | width = 220
 | header = 
 | image1 = IG Farben 1943.jpg
 | caption1 = IG Farben facilities in Germany, 1943
 | image2 = Map of Auschwitz and environs, 1944.jpg
 | caption2 = Map of the [[Auschwitz concentration camp]] complex in [[Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany|German-occupied Poland]], showing Auschwitz I, II and III, and the IG Farben plant
 | image5=Auschwitz-Birkenau Complex - Oswiecim, Poland - NARA - 305897.jpg
 | caption5=Aerial photograph of Auschwitz, June 1944, showing the IG Farben plant
}}
<!--needs source: During the planning of the [[German occupation of Czechoslovakia|occupation of Czechoslovakia]] and the [[German invasion of Poland|invasion of Poland]], the company cooperated closely with Nazi officials and directed which chemical plants should be secured and delivered to IG Farben.
-->IG Farben has been described as "the most notorious German industrial concern during the [[Nazi Germany|Third Reich]]".{{sfn|Spicka|2018|p=233}} When World War II began, it was the fourth largest corporation in the world and the largest in Europe.{{sfn|van Pelt|Dwork|1996|p=198}} In February 1941, Reichsführer-SS [[Heinrich Himmler]] signed an order{{sfn|Schmaltz|2018|p=215}} supporting the construction of an IG Farben [[Nitrile rubber|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 [[Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany|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 the company by the SS for a low daily rate.{{sfn|Dickerman|2017|p=440}} One of IG Farben's subsidiaries supplied the poison gas, [[Zyklon B]], that killed over one million people in gas chambers.{{sfn|Bartrop|2017|pp=742–743}}

Company executives said after the war that they had not known what was happening inside the camps. According to the historian [[Peter Hayes (historian)|Peter Hayes]], "the killings were an open secret within Farben, and people worked at not reflecting upon what they knew."{{sfn|Hayes|2003|p=346}}

In 1978, Joseph Borkin, who investigated 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."<ref>{{harvnb|Borkin|1978|p=1}}; for more on Borkin, {{cite news |last1=Pearson |first1=Richard |title=Joseph Borkin, Antitrust Lawyer, Author Dies |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1979/07/06/joseph-borkin-antitrust-lawyer-author-dies/91347fc6-35dc-4043-b2df-c6d857acd16e/  |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=6 July 1979}}</ref> The company placed its resources, technical capabilities and overseas contacts at the German government's disposal. The minutes of a meeting of the Commercial Committee on 10 September 1937 noted:

{{blockquote|It is generally agreed that under no circumstances should anybody be assigned to our agencies abroad who is not a member of the [[German Labour Front|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 is their special duty to represent [[Nazi Germany|National Socialist Germany]].&nbsp;... The Sales Combines are also requested to see to it that their agents are adequately supplied with National Socialist literature.{{sfn|IG Farben trial|pp=1281–1282}}}}

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 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 [[German Labour Front|DAF]] (German Workers' Front), et cetera. Orders to that effect again are to be given to the leading German gentlemen so that there may be no misunderstanding in their execution."{{sfn|IG Farben trial|p=1282}}

By 1943, IG Farben was manufacturing products worth three billion [[Reichsmark|mark]]s 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 {{Reichsmark|500 million|link=yes}} (equivalent to {{Inflation|DE|0.5|1943}} billion {{Inflation-year|DE}} euros).{{sfn|Hayes|2001|pp=xxi–xxii}} In 1945, according to [[Raymond G. Stokes]], it manufactured all 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 [[solvent]]s, around 50 percent of its pharmaceuticals, and around 33 percent of its [[synthetic fuel]].{{sfn|Stokes|1994|p=70}}

===Medical experiments===
Staff of the [[Bayer]] group at IG Farben conducted medical experiments on concentration-camp inmates at Auschwitz and at the [[Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp complex|Mauthausen concentration camp]].{{sfn|Lifton|Hackett|1998|p=310}}<ref name="Other doctor-perpetrators"/> 
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 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 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.{{sfn|Strzelecka|2000|p=362}}

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 a result of the research; the camp had asked for RM 200 per person, but Bayer had said that was too high.<ref>{{harvnb|Strzelecka|2000|p=363}}; {{harvnb|Rees|2006|p=179}}; {{harvnb|Jacobs|2017|pp=312–314}}.{{pb}}{{cite news |last1=Worthington |first1=Daryl |title=IG Farben Opens Factory at Auschwitz |url=https://www.newhistorian.com/ig-farben-opens-factory-at-auschwitz/3822/ |work=New Historian |date=20 May 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150522040626/https://www.newhistorian.com/ig-farben-opens-factory-at-auschwitz/3822/ |archive-date=22 May 2015}}</ref> 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 the same price."<ref>{{harvnb|Strzelecka|2000|p=363}}, citing
[[Jan Sehn|Sehn, Jan]] (1957). ''Konzentrationslager Oswiecim-Brzezinka: Auf Grund von Dokumentation und Beweisquellen''. Warsaw: Wydawnictwo Prawnicze, p. 89ff; also see {{harvnb|Rees|2006|p=179}}; for Höss, {{harvnb|Jeffreys|2008|p=278}}.</ref><!--needs to be checked: Apart from the Auschwitz plant, IG Farben ran four other plants that produced [[Nitrile rubber|Buna N]] by the [[Sergei Vasilyevich Lebedev|Lebedev]] process,<ref>{{cite web |title=Summaries: Microfilm 2, U.S. Government Technical Oil Mission |url=http://www.fischer-tropsch.org/Tom%20Reels/Linked/TOM%20143/TOM-143-0028-0042%20Reel%202%20Summaries.pdf  |format=PDF |page=15|access-date=21 May 2009}}</ref> facilities that were bombing targets of the [[Oil Campaign of World War II]]. There were two facilities in Frankfurt: the [[IG Farben building]] and a [[Hoechst AG]] chemical factory, the latter bombed by the RAF on 26 September 1944.{{citation needed|date=September 2018}} The company ran several plants in [[Ludwigshafen#World War II|Ludwigshafen and Oppau]]. In 1937 in  Pölitz, north Germany (today [[Police, Poland]]), IG Farben, Rhenania-Ossag, and [[Esso|Deutsch-Amerikanische Petroleum Gesellschaft]] founded the Hydrierwerke Pölitz AG [[Bergius process|synthetic fuel plant]].{{sfn|Karlsch|Stokes|2003|p=193ff}} which by 1943 produced 15 percent (577,000 tons) of Germany's synthetic fuels.{{sfn|Karlsch|Stokes|2003|p=196}} There was another IG Farben plant in [[Waldenburg]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Summaries: Microfilm 2, U.S. Government Technical Oil Mission |url=http://www.fischer-tropsch.org/Tom%20Reels/Linked/TOM%20143/TOM-143-0028-0042%20Reel%202%20Summaries.pdf  |format=PDF |publisher=fischer-tropsch.org |page=6 |access-date=21 May 2009}}</ref>-->

===Zyklon B===
Between 1942 and 1945, a [[hydrogen cyanide|cyanide]]-based pesticide, [[Zyklon B]], was used to kill over one million people, mostly Jews, in [[gas chamber]]s in Europe, including in the [[Auschwitz II]] and [[Majdanek]] extermination camps in German-occupied Poland.{{sfn|Neumann|2012|p=115}} The poison gas was supplied by an IG Farben subsidiary, [[Degesch]] (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Schädlingsbekämpfung MbH, or German Company for Pest Control).{{sfn|Bartrop|2017|pp=742–743}} Degesch originally supplied 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&nbsp;°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.{{sfn|van Pelt|Dwork|1996|pp=219–221}} The gas was first used on human beings in Auschwitz (650 Soviet POWs and 200 others) in September 1941.<ref>{{harvnb|Hilberg|1998|p=84}}; also see {{harvnb|Hayes|2001|p=362}}.</ref>

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.{{sfn|Hayes|2001|p=362}}

{| class="wikitable"
|+ Production and sales of Zyklon B, 1938–1945
|-
!   !! 1938 !! 1939 !! 1940 !! 1941 !! 1942 !! 1943 !! 1944
|-
| Sales (thousands of [[Reichsmark|marks]]) || 257 || 337 || 448 || 366 || 506 || 544 || 
|-
| Percentage of total [[Degesch]] earnings || 30 || 38 || 57 || 48 || 39 || 52 || 
|-
| Production ([[short ton]]s) || 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-Gusen concentration camp complex|Mauthausen]]<br/>(not an extermination camp) ||  ||  ||  ||  || 0.9 || 1.5 || 
|}

{{multiple image
| align             = right
| direction         = vertical
| width             = 220
| header            = 
| image1            = Zyklon B Container.jpg
| caption1          = [[Zyklon B]] container in the Auschwitz museum
| image2            = Heinrich Himmler, IG Farben Auschwitz plant, July 1942.jpeg
| caption2          = [[Heinrich Himmler]] ''(second left)'' visits the IG Farben Auschwitz plant, July 1942.
| image5            = Bundesarchiv Bild 146-2007-0056, IG-Farbenwerke Auschwitz.jpg
| caption5          = IG Farben Auschwitz factory
}}

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.{{sfn|United Nations War Crimes Commission|1949|p=24}} Mann, who had been an [[Sturmabteilung|SA]]-[[Sturmführer]],<ref name=MannWollheim/> 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".{{sfn|Hayes|2001|p=361}} IG Farben executives did visit Auschwitz where only a smaller gas chamber existed,<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.auschwitz.org/en/visiting/permanent-exhibition/gas-chamber-i | title=Gas chamber I / Permanent Exhibition / Visiting / Auschwitz-Birkenau }}</ref> but not [[Auschwitz II-Birkenau]], where the industrial gas chambers were located.{{sfn|Hayes|2001|p=363}}

Other IG Farben staff appear to have known. Ernst Struss, secretary of the IG Farben's managing board, testified after the war that the company's chief engineer at Auschwitz had told him about the gassings.{{sfn|Maguire|2010|p=146}} The general manager of Degesch is said to have learned about the gassings from [[Kurt Gerstein]] of the SS.{{sfn|Hayes|2001|p=363}} According to the post-war testimony of [[Rudolf Höss]], the Auschwitz commandant, he was asked by {{ill|Walter Dürrfeld|de}}, technical manager of 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.{{sfn|Hayes|2001|p=364}} Dürrfeld, a friend of Höss, denied knowing about it.<ref name=DürrfeldWollheim>{{cite web |title=Walther Dürrfeld (1899–1967) |url=http://www.wollheim-memorial.de/en/walther_duerrfeld_18991967 |publisher=Wollheim Memorial, Fritz Bauer Institute |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160325013129/http://www.wollheim-memorial.de/en/walther_duerrfeld_18991967 |archive-date=25 March 2016}}</ref><!--[[Bruno Tesch]], a chemist who had been involved in the development of [[Zyklon B]], reportedly told a secretary around June 1942 that Wehrmacht officers had talked about gassings; Tesch was hanged by the British in 1946.-->

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 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.<ref>{{harvnb|Hayes|2001|p=364}}; also see Benedikt Kautsky, hearing of witness, 29 January 1953. Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv Wiesbaden (HHStAW), Sec. 460, No. 1424 (Wollheim v. I.G. Farben), Vol. II, pp. 257–264.</ref> [[Charles Coward]], a British POW who had been held at Auschwitz III, told the [[IG Farben trial]]:

{{blockquote|The population at Auschwitz was fully aware that people were being gassed and burned. On one occasion they complained about the stench of 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.<ref>{{harvnb|IG Farben trial|p=606}}; {{harvnb|Borkin|1978|p=144}}; {{harvnb|Maguire|2010|p=146}}.</ref>}}

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 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".{{sfn|United Nations War Crimes Commission|1949|p=24}} In 1949, Mann became head of pharmaceutical sales at [[Bayer]].<ref name=MannWollheim>{{cite web |title=Wilhelm Rudolf Mann (1894–1992) |url=http://www.wollheim-memorial.de/en/wilhelm_rudolf_mann_18941992 |publisher=Wollheim Memorial, Fritz Bauer Institute |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120126234732/http://www.wollheim-memorial.de/en/wilhelm_rudolf_mann_18941992 |archive-date=26 January 2012|url-status=live}}</ref> Hörlein became chair of Bayer's supervisory board.<ref>{{cite web |title=Philipp Heinrich Hörlein (1882–1954) |url=http://www.wollheim-memorial.de/en/philipp_heinrich_hoerlein_18821954 |publisher=Wollheim Memorial, Fritz Bauer Institute |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180904052329/http://www.wollheim-memorial.de/en/philipp_heinrich_hoerlein_18821954 |archive-date=4 September 2018}}</ref> Wurster became chair of the IG Farben board, helped to reestablish [[BASF]] as a separate company, and became an honorary professor at the [[University of Heidelberg]].<ref name=WursterWollheim>{{cite web |title=Carl Wurster (1900–1974) |url=http://www.wollheim-memorial.de/en/carl_wurster_19001974 |publisher=Wollheim Memorial, Fritz Bauer Institute|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180831035443/http://www.wollheim-memorial.de/en/carl_wurster_19001974 |archive-date=31 August 2018}}</ref> Dürrfeld was sentenced to eight years, but had his sentence commuted to time served in 1951 by [[John J. McCloy|John McCloy]], the US High Commissioner for Germany, under massive political pressure, after which he joined the management or supervisory boards of several chemical companies.<ref name=DürrfeldWollheim/>

===Seizure by the Allies===
{{further|Allied-occupied Germany}}
[[File:Germany occupation zones with border.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|left|[[Allied-occupied Germany|Occupation zones of Germany]], 1945 (American, British, French and Soviet)]]
The company destroyed most of its records as it became clear that Germany 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.{{sfn|Borkin|1978|p=134}} As the [[Red Army]] approached Auschwitz in January 1945 to [[Liberation of Auschwitz|liberate it]], IG Farben reportedly destroyed the company's records inside the camp,<ref>{{harvnb|Borkin|1978|p=134}}; {{harvnb|Hilberg|2003|p=1049}}.</ref> and in the spring of 1945, the company burned and shredded 15 tons of paperwork in Frankfurt.{{sfn|Borkin|1978|p=134}}

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 the areas they controlled.{{sfn|Abelshauser|von Hippel|Johnson|Stokes|2003|p=337}} 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&nbsp;... building up and maintaining German war potential".<ref name=LawNo9>{{cite news |title=Law No. 9 |url=http://images.library.wisc.edu/History/EFacs/GerRecon/PropControl/reference/history.propcontrol.i0039.pdf |publisher=Allied Control Council|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180922015412/http://images.library.wisc.edu/History/EFacs/GerRecon/PropControl/reference/history.propcontrol.i0039.pdf|archive-date=22 September 2018|url-status=live}}{{pb}}
{{cite news|title=Kontrollratsgesetz Nr. 9 |url=http://www.verfassungen.de/de/de45-49/kr-gesetz9.htm |website=Verfassungen der Welt |publisher=www.verfassungen.de |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170419103942/http://www.verfassungen.de/de/de45-49/kr-gesetz9.htm |archive-date=19 April 2017}}</ref>{{sfn|Hayes|2001|pp=xxi–xxii}} The division of property followed the division of Germany into four zones: [[American occupation zone|American]], [[British occupation zone|British]], [[French occupation zone|French]] and [[Soviet occupation zone|Soviet]].{{sfn|Abelshauser|von Hippel|Johnson|Stokes|2003|p=337}}

In the Western occupation zone, the idea of destroying the company was abandoned as the policy of [[denazification]] evolved,{{sfn|Spicka|2018|p=233}} 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 the smaller ones.{{citation needed|date=September 2018}} In January 1955, the [[Allied High Commission]] issued the I.G. Liquidation Conclusion Law,<ref name=LiquidationWollheim/> naming IG Farben's legal successor as ''IG Farbenindustrie AG in Abwicklung'' (IGiA){{sfn|Abelshauser|von Hippel|Johnson|Stokes|2003|p=335}} ("I.G. Farbenindustrie AG in Liquidation).<ref name=LiquidationWollheim>{{cite web |title=I.G. Farben in Liquidation from the 1950s to 1990 |url=http://www.wollheim-memorial.de/en/ig_farben_il_bis_1990_en |publisher=Wollheim Memorial |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170609162803/http://www.wollheim-memorial.de/en/ig_farben_il_bis_1990_en |archive-date=9 June 2017}}</ref><!--Add Norbert Wollheim case, 1953 decision, Claims Conference, IGF Liquidation Act of 21 January 1955, protests-->

===IG Farben trial===
{{further|IG Farben trial}}
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, was the sixth of 12 trials for [[war crime]]s the US authorities held in their occupation zone in Germany ([[Nuremberg Trials|Nuremberg]]) against leading industrialists of [[Nazi Germany]]. There were five counts against the IG Farben directors:

[[File:IG Farben Defendants.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|The defendants in the dock on the first day of the [[IG Farben trial]], 27 August 1947]]
{{blockquote|
*"the planning, preparation, initiation, and waging of wars of aggression and invasions of other countries;
*"committing war crimes and crimes against humanity through the plunder and spoliation of public and private property in countries and territories that came under German occupation;
*"committing war crimes and crimes against humanity through participating in the enslavement and deportation for slave labor of civilians from German-occupied territories and of German nationals;
*"participation by defendants [[Christian Schneider]], [[Heinrich Bütefisch|Heinrich Buetefisch]], and [[Erich von der Heyde]] in the SS, a recently-declared criminal organization; and
*"participation in a common plan or conspiracy to commit crimes against peace".<ref name=TrialUSHHM>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Subsequent Nuremberg Proceedings, Case #6, The IG Farben Case|url=https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/subsequent-nuremberg-proceedings-case-6-the-ig-farben-case |encyclopedia=Holocaust Encyclopedia |publisher=United States Holocaust Memorial Museum|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180614045138/https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/subsequent-nuremberg-proceedings-case-6-the-ig-farben-case|archive-date=14 June 2018|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=UNWarCrimes/>}}

Of the 24 defendants [[arraignment|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 (North Dakota judge)|James Morris]], [[Paul M. Hebert]], and Clarence F. Merrell as an alternate judge. [[Telford Taylor]] was the chief counsel for the prosecution. Thirteen defendants were found guilty,<ref name=TrialUSHHM/> with sentences ranging from 18 months to eight years.{{sfn|Abelshauser|von Hippel|Johnson|Stokes|2003|p=339}} All were cleared of the first count of waging war.<ref name=TrialUSHHM/> The heaviest sentences went to those involved with Auschwitz,{{sfn|Abelshauser|von Hippel|Johnson|Stokes|2003|p=339}} which was IG Farben's [[Upper Rhine]] group.{{sfn|Abelshauser|von Hippel|Johnson|Stokes|2003|p=340}}  Ambros, Bütefisch, Dürrfeld, Krauch and ter Meer were convicted of "participating in&nbsp;... enslavement and deportation for slave labor".{{sfn|''United States of America v Carl Krauch et al.''|p=7}}

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 the [[Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany|Federal Cross of Merit]].{{sfn|Jeffreys|2008|pp=321–341}} Those who served prison sentences included:

{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:95%; text-align:left; float:center; margin-left:10px;"

|-
! Director !! IG Farben position !! Sentence<br/>(years)!! Post-sentence !! Sources
|-
|[[Carl Krauch]] || Chair of the [[supervisory board]], member of [[Hermann Göring|Göring]]'s Office of the [[Four Year Plan|Four-Year Plan]] || Six{{sfn|''United States of America v Carl Krauch et al.''|p=7}} || Joined supervisory board of the Bunawerke Hüls GmbH||
|-
| [[Hermann Schmitz (industrialist)|Hermann Schmitz]] || [[CEO]], [[Reichstag (Weimar Republic)|Reichstag]] member || Four{{sfn|''United States of America v Carl Krauch et al.''|p=7}}|| Board member, [[Deutsche Bank]] in Berlin; Honorary chair, Rheinische Stahlwerke AG board|| <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wollheim-memorial.de/en/hermann_schmitz_18811960 |title=Hermann Schmitz (1881–1960)|publisher=Wollheim Memorial|access-date=25 February 2012}}</ref><ref name=UNWarCrimes>{{harvnb|United Nations War Crimes Commission|1949}}.</ref>
|-
| [[Fritz ter Meer]] || Supervisory board member || Seven{{sfn|''United States of America v Carl Krauch et al.''|p=7}} || Chair, [[Bayer AG]] board; board member of several firms || <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wollheim-memorial.de/en/fritz_friedrich_hermann_ter_meer_18841967 |title=Fritz (Friedrich Hermann) ter Meer (1884–1967) |publisher=Wollheim Memorial|access-date=25 February 2012}}</ref><ref name=UNWarCrimes/>
|-
| [[Otto Ambros]] || Supervisory board member, manager of IG Farben Auschwitz || Eight{{sfn|''United States of America v Carl Krauch et al.''|p=7}} || Board member of [[Chemie Grünenthal]] (active during the [[thalidomide]] scandal), Feldmühle, and Telefunken; economic consultant in [[Mannheim]] || <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wollheim-memorial.de/en/otto_ambros_19011990 |title=Otto Ambros (1901–1990) |publisher=Wollheim Memorial |access-date=25 February 2012}}</ref><ref name=UNWarCrimes/>
|-
| [[Heinrich Bütefisch]] || Supervisory board member, head of fuel sector at IG Farben Auschwitz || Six{{sfn|''United States of America v Carl Krauch et al.''|p=7}} || Board member for Deutsche [[Gasolin AG]], Feldmühle, and Papier- und Zellstoffwerke AG; consultant and board member for Ruhrchemie AG Oberhausen|| <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wollheim-memorial.de/en/heinrich_buetefisch_18941969 |title=Heinrich Bütefisch (1894–1969) |publisher=Wollheim Memorial |access-date=25 February 2012}}</ref><ref name=UNWarCrimes/>
|-
| {{ill|Walter Dürrfeld|de}} || Technical manager of IG Farben Auschwitz || Eight{{sfn|''United States of America v Carl Krauch et al.''|p=7}} ||<ref name=DürrfeldWollheim/> || 
|-
| [[Georg von Schnitzler]] || Chair, Chemical Committee || Five{{sfn|''United States of America v Carl Krauch et al.''|p=7}} || President, Deutsch-Ibero-Amerikanische Gesellschaft || <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wollheim-memorial.de/en/georg_von_schnitzler_18841962 |title=Georg von Schnitzler (1884–1962)  |publisher=Wollheim Memorial|access-date=25 February 2012}}</ref><ref name=UNWarCrimes/>
|-
| [[Max Ilgner]] || Supervisory board member || Three{{sfn|''United States of America v Carl Krauch et al.''|p=7}} || Chair of the board of a chemistry firm in [[Zug]] || <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wollheim-memorial.de/en/max_ilgner_18991966 |title=Max Ilgner (1899–1966)  |publisher=Wollheim Memorial |access-date=25 February 2012}}</ref><ref name=UNWarCrimes/>
|-
| [[Heinrich Oster]]|| Alternate board member; [[BASF]] board member || Two{{sfn|''United States of America v Carl Krauch et al.''|p=7}} || Gelsenberg AG board member|| <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wollheim-memorial.de/en/heinrich_oster_18781954 |title=Heinrich Oster (1878–1954) |publisher=Wollheim Memorial |access-date=25 February 2012}}</ref><ref name=UNWarCrimes/>
|}

Those [[acquitted]] included:

{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:95%; text-align:left; float:center; margin-left:10px;"
|-
! Director !! IG Farben position !! Outcome !! Post-sentence !! Source
|-
| [[Carl Wurster]] || Board member, head of IG Farben's Upper Rhine Business Group || Acquitted || IG Farben board chair and led the reestablishment of [[BASF]]. After retiring joined or chaired supervisory boards in [[Robert Bosch GmbH|Bosch]], Degussa and [[Allianz]].|| <ref name=WursterWollheim/>
|-
| [[Fritz Gajewski]] || Board member, manager of Agfa division  || Acquitted || Chair of the board of [[Dynamit Nobel]] || <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wollheim-memorial.de/en/friedrich_fritz_gajewski_18851965 |title=Friedrich (Fritz) Gajewski (1885–1965) |publisher=Wollheim Memorial |access-date=25 February 2012}}</ref>
|-
| [[Christian Schneider (chemist)|Christian Schneider]] ||  || Acquitted || Joined supervisory boards of Süddeutsche Kalkstickstoff-Werke AG Trostberg and Rheinauer Holzhydrolyse-GmbH, Mannheim. || <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wollheim-memorial.de/en/christian_schneider_18871972 |title=Christian Schneider (1887–1972)|publisher=Wollheim Memorial |access-date=25 February 2012}}</ref>
|-
| [[Hans Kühne]] || || Acquitted || Took a position at [[Bayer]], [[Elberfeld]] ||<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wollheim-memorial.de/en/hans_kuehne_18801969 |title=Hans Kühne (1880–1969) |publisher=Wollheim Memorial |access-date=25 February 2012}}</ref>
|-
| [[Carl Lautenschläger]] || || Acquitted || Research associate at Bayer, Elberfeld || <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wollheim-memorial.de/en/carlludwig_lautenschlaeger_18881962 |title=Carl-Ludwig Lautenschläger (1888–1962) |publisher=Wollheim Memorial |access-date=25 February 2012}}</ref>
|-
| [[Wilhelm Rudolf Mann]] || Head of pharmaceutical sales for the Bayer [[Division (business)|division]] of IG Farben, member of the ''[[Sturmabteilung]]'' || Acquitted || Resumed his position at Bayer. Also presided over the GfK (Society for Consumer Research) and the Foreign Trade Committee of the BDI, Federation of German Industry. ||<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wollheim-memorial.de/en/wilhelm_rudolf_mann_18941992 |title=Wilhelm Rudolf Mann (1894–1992)  |publisher=Wollheim Memorial |access-date=25 February 2012}}</ref>
|-
| [[Heinrich Gattineau]] ||  || Acquitted || Joined the board and supervisory council of WASAG Chemie-AG and Mitteldeutsche Sprengstoff-Werke GmbH. || <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wollheim-memorial.de/en/heinrich_gattineau_19051985 |title=Heinrich Gattineau (1905–1985)  |publisher=Wollheim Memorial |access-date=25 February 2012}}</ref>
|}<!--needs to be checked: ==Relationship with Standard Oil==
In 1941 an investigation exposed a "marriage" cartel between [[John D. Rockefeller]]'s United States-based [[Standard Oil]] Co. and IG Farben.{{sfn|Higham|1983|pp=32–62}}{{sfn|Sutton|2000}}{{efn|The Senate Military Affairs Subcommittee on War Mobilization (Kilgore Committee), headed by Senator Harley M. Kilgore, held several hearings throughout the second half of 1945 that focused on German economic penetration of neutral countries, elimination of German resources for war, German's resources for a third world war, etc. Archives are at NARA's Center for Legislative Archives in the Archives I building. See the [https://www.archives.gov/research/holocaust/finding-aid/military/rg-226-1.html#14 National Archives finding aid] for [[Holocaust]] research.}} It also brought new evidence concerning complex price and marketing agreements between [[DuPont]],{{Citation needed|date=November 2011}} a major investor in and producer of [[Tetraethyllead|leaded gasoline]], [[United States Industrial Alcohol Company]] and its subsidiary, Cuba Distilling Co. The investigation was eventually dropped, like dozens of others in many different kinds of industries, due to the need to enlist industry support in the war effort.{{Citation needed|date=November 2011}} However, the top directors of many oil companies agreed to resign, and oil industry stocks in molasses companies were sold off as part of a compromise.{{sfn|Sasuly|1947}}{{sfn|Sutton|2000}}-->