Editing BASF (section)

===World War II===
After the appointment of [[Adolf Hitler]] as Chancellor in 1933, [[IG Farben]] cooperated with the [[Nazi Germany|National Socialist government]], profiting from guaranteed volumes and prices and, in time, from [[Forced labour|forced ("unfree") labour]] provided through governmental [[Nazi concentration camps|concentration camps]]. BASF (leader of the chemical industry of the IG Farben) built a 24&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup> chemical factory in Auschwitz named "IG Auschwitz", the largest chemical factory in the world at the time. IG Farben became notorious through its production of [[Zyklon-B]], the lethal gas used to kill prisoners in German extermination camps during the [[Holocaust]].<ref>{{cite journal |date=17 September 2001 |title=IG Farben to be dissolved |journal=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/1549092.stm |access-date=9 May 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100206160327/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/1549092.stm |archive-date=6 February 2010 |url-status=live}}</ref>

IG Farben made extensive use of forced labor during WWII consisting mostly of drafted "service-duty" Germans, foreign workers from German-occupied territories, and prisoners of war. By 1943, nearly one-half of all IG Farben workers were forced laborers housed in factory-camp facilities. This number did not include the 51,445 concentration camp laborers supplied by the Nazis. Spread out over 23 facilities, it is estimated that 31,500{{Endash}}33,500 of those concentration camp inmates were killed by authorities or died from starvation, exhaustion, or disease.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.wollheim-memorial.de/en/zwangsarbeit_en |title=Wollheim Memorial}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Zuppi |first=Alberto |date=2006-02-01 |title=Slave Labor in Nuremberg's I.G. Farben Case: The Lonely Voice of Paul M. Hebert |url=https://digitalcommons.law.lsu.edu/lalrev/vol66/iss2/5 |journal=Louisiana Law Review |volume=66 |issue=2}}</ref>

The Ludwigshafen site was almost completely destroyed during the [[Second World War]] but was subsequently rebuilt. The [[Allies of World War II|allies]] dissolved IG Farben in November 1945.{{Citation needed|date=May 2023}}

Both the Ludwigshafen and Oppau plants were of strategic importance for the war because the German military needed many of their products (''e.g.'', synthetic rubber and gasoline). As a result, they were major targets for air raids. During the war, Allied bombers attacked the plants a total of 65 times.

[[Bombing of Ludwigshafen and Oppau in World War II|Bombing]] took place from the autumn of 1943 and saturation bombing inflicted extensive damage. Production virtually stopped by the end of 1944.

Due to a shortage of male workers during the war, women were [[conscript]]ed to work in the factories, joined later by [[prisoners of war]] and foreign civilians. Concentration camp inmates did not work at the Ludwigshafen and Oppau plants.

In July 1945, the American military administration confiscated all IG Farben assets. That same year, the Allied Commission decreed that IG Farben should be dissolved. The sites at Ludwigshafen and Oppau were controlled by French authorities.{{Citation needed|date=November 2023}}