A short introduction to this archive
This Tribunal was part of the US and other Allied governments efforts to determine the responsibility for WWII and bring to account those who committed crimes against humanity. Between 1945 and 1948 several of these trials were held in the Palace of Justice in the German city of Nuremberg, hence its name.
The Tribunal consisted of a series of 13 trials, the first one against the “main war criminals” was entitled “The USA, France, United Kingdom and USSR v. Hermann Goering et al.” This trial took place between 1945 and 1946 and ended with long prison sentences or the death penalty for most of the perpetrators.
Interestingly, it was this first trial against the political and military figureheads of the Nazi regime that has been generally portrayed as “The Nuremberg Tribunal.” This is historically inaccurate. Moreover, it has deflected attention away from the real “war criminals” who, with their economic power, had financed the rise of the Nazis and the preparation for WWII.
The Disgraced Managers of IG Farben
Fritz ter Meer (1884-1967)
- Member of the IG FARBEN executive committee 1926-1945, member of the working committee and the technical committee, director of section II
- 1943 plenipotentiary for Italy of the Reich Minister for armaments and war production, military economist chief industrialist responsible for Auschwitz.
- 1948 found guilty of "plundering" and "enslavement" and condemned to seven years detention. Released 1952.
- 1955 board member of Bayer
- 1956-1964 chairman of the board of Bayer chairman of the board of Th. Goldschmidt AG, deputy chairman of the board of Commerzbank, Bank-Association AG, board member of the Waggonfabrik Uerdingen, the Duesseldorfer waggonfabrik AG, the bank association West Germany AG and the United Industrial enterprises AG (VIAG)
Otto Ambros (1901-1990)
- Member of the IG FARBEN executive committee 1938-1945, member of the chemical committee and chairman of commission K (agents), special advisors of Krauchs F+E department for the four-year plan, director of the special committee C (chemical agents), the main committee for powders and explosives in the office for arms, military industrial leader
- Responsible for choice of location, planning, building and running of IG Auschwitz as operations manager. Managing director of the Buna-Works and synthetic fuel production
- 1945 knight's cross and Distinguished Service Cross
- 1948 found guilty of "enslavement" condemned to eight years detention.
- Released 1952.
- Starting in 1954 chairman, deputy chairmen and member of the boards of: Chemie Grünenthal, Pintsch Bamag AG, Knoll AG, Feldmühle Papier- und Zellstoffwerke, Telefunken GmbH, Grünzweig & Hartmann, Internationale Galalithgesellschaft, Berliner Handelsgesellschaft, Süddeutsche Kalkstickstoffwerke, Vereinigte Industrieunternehmungen (VIAG) with its subsidiaries Scholven-Chemie and Phenol-Chemie as an advisor to F. K. Flick und of the US Industrialist J.P. Grace is entangled in the early eighties in the "Flick scandal"
Hermann Schmitz (1881-1960)
- Member of the IG FARBEN executive committee 1926-1935, chairman of the board 1935-1945 and "head of finances" to the IG
- Head of military economics, member of the Nazi party (NSDAP)
- 1941 Distinguished Service Cross 1st. Class
- 1948 found guilty of "plundering" condemned to four years in prison. Released 1950.
- 1952 board member of the German bank Berlin West
- 1956 honorary chairman of the board of Rheinish steel plants.
Fritz Gajewski (1888-1962)
- Member of the IG FARBEN executive committee 1931-1945, head of section III (point of contact to Dynamite Nobel)
- At Nuremberg , found "not guiltily" for all charges
- 1949 managing director, 1952 chairman of the board of Dynamite Nobel AG
- 1953 Distinguished Service Cross of the Federal Republic of Germany
- 1957 retirement, honorary chairman of the board of Dynamite Nobel AG, chairman of the board of Genschow & Co. and the Chemie-Verwaltungs AG, board member of Huels AG and the Gelsenkirchener mines
Heinrich Buetefisch (1894-1969)
- Member of the IG FARBEN executive committee 1934-1945, deputy director of section I, director of gasoline synthesis for IG Auschwitz
- 1932 (together with Gattineau) had the conversation with Hitler, that defined the petrol pact, 1936 co-worker of Krauch on the four year plan as a production representative for oil in the Arms Ministry
- SS Obersturmbannführer, military industrial leader, awarded the "friend of the Reich leader SS" cross.
- 1948 found guilty of "enslavement" condemned to six years detention.
- Released 1951.
- 1952 supervisory board member of Ruhr-Chemie and Kohle-Öl-Chemie among others.
- 1964 Distinguished Service Cross of the Federal Republic of Germany. The award was taken back after 16 days due to violent protests
Friedrich Jaehne (1879-1965)
- Member of the IG FARBEN executive committee 1934-1945, chief engineer of the IG, deputy director of the BG central Rhine/Maingau
- 1943 head of military economics, Distinguished Service Cross 1st. Class 1948 found guilty of "plundering" condemned to 18 months detention
- 1955 supervisory board member of the "new" Farbwerke Hoechst. In the same year elevated to supervisory board chairman elect – Karl Winnacker said "in the meantime the liquidation conclusion law had been issued and freed us from all discriminating regulations. So we could add Friedrich Jaehne, chief engineer of the old IG, to the supervisory board. He presided over this committee until 1963. In 1945 none of us would have thought that the two of us would be able to co-operate at the head of our company ".
- Supervisory board chairman of the Alfreds Messer GmbH (later Messer Griesheim), supervisory board member with Linde
- 1959 Dr. Ing. E.h. of TH Munich, 1962 Bavarian service medal, honorary senator of TH Munich, Distinguished Service Cross of the Federal Republic of Germany
Carl Krauch (1887-1968)
- Member of the IG FARBEN executive committee 1926-1940, chairman of the board 1940-1945, director of the coordination center W, director of the Reich office for economics, plenipotentiary for special questions on chemical production, military industrial leader.
- 1943 Knight's Cross for Distinguished War services.
- 1948 found guilty of "enslavement" and condemned to six years in prison. Released 1950.
- 1955 board member of Huels GmbH.
- In 1956 in the Frankfurt Auschwitz court case is quoted as saying: "they were usually anti-social elements, so called political prisoners" (describing the prisoners of Auschwitz-Monowitz)
Carl Wurster (1900-1974)
- Member of the IG FARBEN executive committee 1938-1945, director of BG upper Rhine, board member of DEGESCH
- Head of military economics and member of the military economic advisory council of the Reich chamber of economics
- 1945 Knight's Cross for Distinguished War Services
- At Nuremberg , found "not guiltily" of all charges
- 1952 chairman of the board of the "new" BASF, chairman of the board for Duisburger Kupferhuette and Robert Bosch AG, board member of Augusts Viktoria, the Buna-Werke Huels GmbH, Süddeutschen Bank, Deutschen Bank, Vereinigten Glanzstoff, BBC, Allianz, Degussa, 1965 retirement as chairman of the board of BASF
- 1952 honorary professor of the University of Heidelberg , Dr. rer. RK h.c. the University of Tübingen , 1953 Dr. Ing. E.h. of the TH Munich, 1955 Distinguished Service Cross of the Federal Republic of Germany, Bayer service medal, 1960 Dr. rer. pole h.c. the University of Mannheim, honorary senator of the Universities of Mainz, Karlsruhe and Tübingen, honorary citizen of the University of Stuttgart, honoury citizen of the city of Ludwigshafen, 1967 Schiller prize of the city of Mannheim, president of the federation of the chemical industry, vice-president of the Max-Planck company, the company of German chemists.
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