Glossary

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Biographies of Key Executives of I.G. Farben

The managing board of I.G. Farben AG, called the "Council of the Gods" by employees, painting by Hermann Gröber. At front left in the picture is Carl Bosch, at front right is Carl Duisberg'© HistoCom GmbH
The managing board of I.G. Farben AG, called the "Council of the Gods" by employees, painting by Hermann Gröber. At front left in the picture is Carl Bosch, at front right is Carl Duisberg
© HistoCom GmbH

The face of the young German chemical industry was shaped by numerous chemists and entrepreneurs after the middle of the nineteenth century. At I.G. Farbenindustrie AG, formed in 1925 by a merger of the big German chemical companies, the members of the boards of directors of the larger firms and the key executives determined the corporate policy of the huge chemical conglomerate.

 

After the war’s end, 23 I.G. Farben managers were arraigned in the I.G. Farben Trial in Nuremberg, charged with collaborating with the National Socialist regime and with exploiting concentration camp prisoners in I.G. Auschwitz. They were acquitted immediately or given only light prison sentences and soon released. Subsequently, most of the former managers successfully continued their careers in the West German economy.