IG Farben
Corporate brand
UnclaimedFormer German chemical and pharmaceutical conglomerate dissolved by the Allied authorities after the Second World War.
Last updated October 14, 2026
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Overview
I. G. Farbenindustrie AG, generally known as IG Farben, was a German chemical and pharmaceutical conglomerate created on 2 December 1925 through the combination of six major chemical companies: BASF, Bayer, Hoechst, Agfa, Chemische Fabrik Griesheim-Elektron, and Weiler-ter-Meer. The merger brought together much of Germany’s synthetic-dye, pharmaceutical, photographic, agricultural-chemical, plastics, and industrial-chemical capacity. IG Farben became one of Europe’s largest corporations and, by several measures, the world’s leading chemical and pharmaceutical enterprise. The company emerged from a pre-existing network of German dye-industry alliances. Before the merger, BASF, Bayer, and Agfa had formed a profit-sharing arrangement, while Hoechst and Cassella pursued a related combination. The 1925 structure retained the constituent companies as important operating divisions but coordinated research, investment, purchasing, production, and international sales on a far larger scale. Its Frankfurt headquarters, completed in 1931, symbolized the company’s managerial and scientific power. IG Farben’s prewar portfolio included synthetic dyes, pharmaceuticals, photographic materials, fertilizers, solvents, plastics, synthetic rubber, fuels, and other chemical intermediates. Its scientists contributed to important developments in high-pressure chemistry, polyurethane, antibacterial medicine, and coal-based synthetic fuel. Carl Bosch and Friedrich Bergius received the 1931 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for work on high-pressure methods, while Gerhard Domagk received the 1939 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovering the antibacterial effects of Prontosil. Otto Bayer’s 1937 work on polyaddition helped establish the industrial basis of polyurethane chemistry. The company’s historical record is inseparable from the Nazi period. During the 1930s, IG Farben adapted itself to the National Socialist state, contributed to Nazi political fundraising, removed Jewish supervisory-board members and employees, and became a major supplier to the German rearmament program. It produced synthetic fuel, rubber, nitrogen compounds, explosives, pharmaceuticals, and other materials important to the German war economy. Its commercial and technical resources were integrated into the regime’s plans for economic autarky and war. During the Second World War, IG Farben used forced and concentration-camp labor on a large scale. Its Buna plant at Monowitz, near Auschwitz, was built and operated with prisoners supplied by the SS; approximately 30,000 Auschwitz prisoners are associated with the company’s labor system. Bayer personnel also participated in medical experiments on concentration-camp inmates. Degesch, an IG Farben-related company, manufactured Zyklon B, the cyanide-based pesticide used in Nazi gas chambers. These facts made IG Farben one of the most prominent industrial participants in the economic and technological system of Nazi persecution and mass murder. The Allies seized the company in 1945. In the subsequent IG Farben trial, held at Nuremberg from 1947 to 1948, 23 directors and senior executives were prosecuted for war crimes and related offenses; 13 were convicted. The company itself was broken up. In western Germany, the remaining operations were divided in 1951 among successor enterprises, initially restoring BASF, Bayer, and Hoechst as the principal large chemical companies, while other successor businesses included Agfa. Facilities in the Soviet occupation zone and later East Germany were nationalized or reorganized under state control. The successor companies later underwent further mergers; parts of their corporate heritage are associated with BASF, Bayer, Agfa, and Sanofi. IG Farben therefore has a dual legacy. It represents the organizational scale, scientific achievement, and international reach of the German chemical industry in the first half of the twentieth century, but also corporate complicity in dictatorship, militarization, forced labor, medical abuse, and the Holocaust. The former IG Farben headquarters in Frankfurt later became part of Goethe University, where a permanent memorial exhibition established in 2004 commemorates forced laborers and people murdered with Zyklon B.
History
German chemical companies dominated the global synthetic-dye trade before the First World War. BASF, Bayer, Hoechst, Agfa, and several smaller firms expanded from dyes into pharmaceuticals, photographic materials, agricultural chemicals, electrochemicals, and industrial intermediates. Competition encouraged alliances and profit-sharing arrangements, culminating in the 1925 merger that created IG Farbenindustrie AG. The constituent firms contributed different proportions of the capital, with BASF, Bayer, and Hoechst each holding the largest shares. The new corporation used centralized managerial coordination while retaining powerful technical and operating divisions. IG Farben grew rapidly during the late 1920s and 1930s. Its Frankfurt headquarters, completed in 1931, became a landmark of modern corporate architecture. The company invested heavily in research and developed or commercialized products including synthetic dyes, pharmaceuticals, synthetic rubber, synthetic fuel, polyurethane-related materials, fertilizers, solvents, and plastics. Its research organization produced internationally recognized results, including high-pressure chemical processes, Prontosil, and polyurethane chemistry. Three associated scientists received Nobel Prizes. The company’s political position changed after the Nazi takeover in 1933. Although its earlier leadership had included critics of National Socialism and the company had been attacked by the far right as an international and allegedly Jewish-controlled enterprise, IG Farben became an important supporter and contractor of the Nazi regime. It made political contributions, complied with Aryanization policies, dismissed or forced out Jewish employees, and aligned its business with the government’s Four Year Plan and rearmament objectives. Its production capacity was particularly valuable for synthetic fuel, rubber, nitrogen, explosives, and other materials needed by the Wehrmacht. War production brought IG Farben into direct participation in the occupation and concentration-camp system. The company constructed the Buna synthetic-rubber and chemical complex at Monowitz, part of the Auschwitz camp complex, and used prisoners leased from the SS. Conditions were lethal, and thousands died through exhaustion, hunger, disease, abuse, and executions. IG Farben-related pharmaceutical personnel also conducted experiments on prisoners at Auschwitz and Mauthausen. Degesch, a related company in which IG Farben had an interest, supplied Zyklon B, which was used in the mass murder of Jews and other victims in Nazi extermination camps. The company’s wartime conduct demonstrated how industrial production, forced labor, SS administration, and genocide were interconnected. After Germany’s surrender, the Allies confiscated IG Farben’s assets and arrested leading managers. The IG Farben trial formed part of the subsequent Nuremberg proceedings. The defendants faced charges involving aggressive war, plunder, enslavement, and participation in criminal organizations. The verdicts produced several convictions, although sentences were later reduced and all convicted defendants were released early under changing American occupation policies. The corporation was not allowed to resume its former unified structure. In 1951, the western German remnants were divided into their principal constituent companies. BASF, Bayer, and Hoechst again operated independently, while Agfa and other businesses followed separate paths. East German assets were nationalized or incorporated into state-owned enterprises. Later corporate mergers transferred portions of the successor businesses into companies including Agfa, BASF, Bayer, and Sanofi. The legal and material dissolution of IG Farben did not erase its historical legacy. Memorial and educational projects, including the Norbert Wollheim Memorial at the former Frankfurt headquarters, continue to address the experiences of forced laborers and the company’s involvement in Nazi crimes.
- 2004
Norbert Wollheim Memorial is established
[1]A permanent exhibition at the former headquarters documents forced labor and Holocaust victims.
- 1951
The western company is dismantled
[1]Allied and German authorities divide the western remnants into separate successor companies.
- 1947
IG Farben trial begins
[2]Senior directors are prosecuted in one of the subsequent Nuremberg trials.
- 1945
IG Farben is seized by the Allies
[1]The conglomerate is placed under Allied control following Germany’s defeat.
- 1941
Monowitz Buna works is established near Auschwitz
[1]An IG Farben synthetic-rubber and chemical plant begins construction and operation using prisoners supplied by the SS.
- 1939
Domagk is awarded the Nobel Prize
[1]Gerhard Domagk is recognized for discovering the antibacterial effects of Prontosil.
- 1937
Polyurethane polyaddition is developed
[1]Otto Bayer discovers the polyaddition process that underpins industrial polyurethane synthesis.
- 1933
IG Farben becomes a major Nazi government contractor
[1]The company aligns its resources and production with the Nazi state and rearmament program.
- 1931
Frankfurt headquarters is completed
[1]The company’s large headquarters building opens in Frankfurt am Main.
- 1931
Bosch and Bergius receive Nobel Prize in Chemistry
[1]The two scientists are recognized for contributions to chemical high-pressure methods developed in the company’s scientific milieu.
Products and positioning
Historically, a vertically integrated global chemical and pharmaceutical conglomerate; today, a defunct corporation remembered both for major scientific and industrial achievements and for its central role in the Nazi war economy and forced-labor system.
Dyes and pigments · 1925
Synthetic dyes
Synthetic dyes formed the historical foundation of the German chemical industry and remained a core IG Farben business. The company inherited extensive dye research, manufacturing, and international distribution capabilities from BASF, Bayer, Hoechst, Agfa, and related firms.
Industrial chemicals
Synthetic rubber
IG Farben developed and manufactured synthetic rubber, including Buna materials. Production became strategically important to Nazi Germany because access to natural rubber was constrained during the war. The Monowitz Buna works was built to expand this capacity using concentration-camp labor.
Industrial chemicals
Synthetic fuel
The company produced fuel from lignite through coal-liquefaction processes. Synthetic fuel was central to German military planning and made IG Farben a major supplier to the wartime economy.
Pharmaceuticals
Prontosil
Prontosil was an antibacterial drug associated with Gerhard Domagk’s research. Its discovery helped demonstrate the medical potential of sulfonamide compounds and earned Domagk the 1939 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
Plastics and polymers · 1937
Polyurethane materials
Otto Bayer’s 1937 discovery of polyaddition provided a route to polyurethane chemistry. The work became an important scientific and commercial legacy of IG Farben’s research organization, although later polyurethane businesses belonged to successor companies.
Pesticides and fumigants
Zyklon B
Zyklon B was a hydrogen-cyanide fumigant manufactured by Degesch, a related company associated with IG Farben. It was used by the Nazi regime in gas chambers to murder more than one million people during the Holocaust.
Controversies
1947
IG Farben trial
Twenty-three directors and senior executives were tried for war crimes and related offenses; 13 were convicted. Sentences were subsequently reduced and the convicted men were released early.
1942
Zyklon B and the Holocaust
Degesch, a related IG Farben company, supplied Zyklon B, the poison gas used in Nazi gas chambers. The product became directly associated with the industrial system of mass murder.
1941
Forced labor at Monowitz and Auschwitz
IG Farben operated the Buna plant at Monowitz with prisoners supplied by the SS. Approximately 30,000 Auschwitz prisoners are associated with the company’s forced-labor system, under conditions that caused widespread death and suffering.
1940
Medical experiments on concentration-camp inmates
Personnel associated with the Bayer division conducted drug experiments on prisoners at Auschwitz and Mauthausen, including tests involving infections and pharmaceuticals.
Brand decisions
1945
Dissolve the conglomerate under Allied controlStrategyBackground
The Allies treated IG Farben as a central industrial instrument of German rearmament and investigated its leadership after the war.
Action taken
The company was seized, its directors were prosecuted, and its assets were placed on a path toward division.
Aftermath
The western remnants were separated into successor companies in 1951, while eastern assets were nationalized or reorganized.
1933
Align production with the Nazi stateStrategyBackground
The Nazi government prioritized economic autarky, rearmament, and preparation for war.
Action taken
IG Farben became a major government contractor, contributed political funds, purged Jewish personnel, and directed resources toward strategic chemicals and fuels.
Aftermath
The company expanded during the war while becoming deeply implicated in forced labor, occupation, and Nazi crimes.
1925
Create a unified chemical conglomerateM&ABackground
German dye and chemical producers sought greater coordination, research scale, and international competitiveness after years of alliance-building.
Action taken
BASF, Bayer, Hoechst, Agfa, Griesheim-Elektron, and Weiler-ter-Meer merged to form IG Farbenindustrie AG.
Aftermath
The resulting company became one of the world’s largest chemical and pharmaceutical enterprises.
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