The defendants in the dock on the first day of the trial.

The IG Farben Trial (or, officially, The United States of America vs. Carl Krauch, et. al.) was the sixth of the twelve trials for war crimes the U.S. authorities held in their occupation zone in Germany in Nuremberg after the end of World War II. These twelve trials were all held before U.S. military courts, not before the International Military Tribunal, but took place in the same rooms. The twelve U.S. trials are collectively known as the "Subsequent Nuremberg Trials" or, more formally, as the "Trials of War Criminals before the Nuremberg Military Tribunals" (NMT). A war crime is a punishable offense, under international law, for violations of the law of war by any person or persons, military or civilian. ... The United States of America — also referred to as the United States, the U.S.A., the U.S., America, the States, or (archaically) Columbia—is a federal republic of 50 states located primarily in central North America (with the exception of two states: Alaska and Hawaii). ... The Federal Republic of Germany (German: Bundesrepublik Deutschland) is one of the worlds leading industrialised countries, located in the heart of Europe. ... This article is about the city in Germany. ... Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km into the air. ... The Nuremberg Trials is the general name for two sets of trials of Nazis involved in World War II and the Holocaust. ... Chief prosecutor Telford Taylor opens the prosecution case in the Krupp Trial The Subsequent Nuremberg Trials (or, more formally, the Trials of War Criminals before the Nuremberg Military Tribunals (NMT)) were a series of twelve U.S. military trials for war crimes against surviving members of the military, political, and...

The IG Farben Trial was the second of three trials of leading industrialists of Nazi Germany for their conduct during the Nazi regime. (The two other industrialist trials were the Flick Trial and the Krupp Trial.) The defendants in this case all were directors of IG Farben, a large German conglomerate of chemical firms. The company had been a major factor already in World War I, when their development of the Haber-Bosch process for nitrogen fixation compensated for Germany's being cut off from the Chilean nitrate trade and allowed IG Farben to produce synthetic nitrate. (Nitrate is an important component for the fabrication of explosives such as dynamite or TNT.) In World War II, IG Farben developed processes for synthesizing gasoline and rubber from coal, and thereby contributed much to Germany's ability to wage a war despite having been cut off from all major oil fields. The charges consequently centered on preparing to wage an aggressive war, but also on slave labor and plundering. Nazi Germany, or the Third Reich, commonly refers to Germany in the years 1933–1945, when it was under the firm control of the totalitarian and fascist ideology of the Nazi Party, with the Führer Adolf Hitler as dictator. ... Friedrich Flick receives his sentence in the Flick Trial. ... The judges in the Krupp trial. ... IG Farben (short for Interessen-Gemeinschaft Farbenindustrie AG) was a German conglomerate of companies formed in 1925 and even earlier during World War I. IG Farben held nearly a total monopoly on the chemical production, later during the time of Nazi Germany. ... Ypres, 1917, in the vicinity of the Battle of Passchendaele. ... The Haber Process (also Haber-Bosch process) is the reaction of nitrogen and hydrogen to produce ammonia. ... Dynamite is an explosive based on the explosive potential of nitroglycerin using diatomaceous earth (Kieselguhr) as an absorbent. ... TNT is a three-letter abbreviation with multiple meanings, including: Trinitrotoluene, a chemical explosive. ... Petrol (gasoline in the United States and Canada) is a petroleum-derived liquid mixture consisting primarily of hydrocarbons, used as fuel in internal combustion engines. ... This article is about the material rubber, for other uses see Rubber (disambiguation) Rubber is an elastic hydrocarbon polymer which occurs as a milky emulsion (known as latex) in the sap of a number of plants but can also be produced synthetically. ... Coal is a fossil fuel extracted from the ground either by underground mining, open-pit mining or strip mining. ... Drilling rig in a small oil field Near Sarnia, Ontario, 2001 An oil field is an area with an abundance of oil wells extracting petroleum (oil) from below ground. ... Slavery is any of a number of related conditions involving control of a person against his or her will, enforced by violence or other clear forms of coercion. ...

The judges in this case, heard before Military Tribunal VI, were Curtis Grover Shake (presiding judge), former Chief Judge of the Supreme Court of Indiana, James Morris from North Dakota, Paul M. Hebert, Dean of the Law School of the Louisiana State University, and Clarence F. Merrell, a lawyer from Indiana, as an alternate judge. The Chief of Counsel for the Prosecution was Telford Taylor. The indictment was filed on May 3, 1947; the trial lasted from August 27, 1947 until July 30, 1948. Of the 24 defendants arraigned, 13 were found guilty on one or the other counts of the indictment and sentenced to prison terms ranging from 1½ to eight years, including time already served; ten defendants were acquitted of all charges. Max Brüggemann was removed from the trial and his case discontinued on September 9, 1947 due to medical reasons. State nickname: The Hoosier State Other U.S. States Capital Indianapolis Largest city Indianapolis Governor Mitch Daniels Official languages English Area 94,321 km² (38th)  - Land 92,897 km²  - Water 1,424 km² (1. ... State nickname: Peace Garden State, Roughrider State, Flickertail State Other U.S. States Capital Bismarck Largest city Fargo Governor John Hoeven Official languages English Area 183,272 km² (19th)  - Land 178,839 km²  - Water 4,432 km² (2. ... Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, or simply Louisiana State University or LSU is a public university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and the main campus of the Louisiana State University System. ... State nickname: The Hoosier State Other U.S. States Capital Indianapolis Largest city Indianapolis Governor Mitch Daniels Official languages English Area 94,321 km² (38th)  - Land 92,897 km²  - Water 1,424 km² (1. ... Telford Taylor Telford Taylor (February 24, 1908 - May 22, 1998) was a U.S. lawyer best known for his role in the Counsel for the Prosecution at the Nuremberg Trials after World War II, his opposition against Senator McCarthy in the 1950s, and his outspoken criticism of the U.S... In the common law legal system, an indictment is a formal charge of having committed a serious criminal offense. ... May 3 is the 123rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (124th in leap years). ... 1947 was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... August 27 is the 239th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (240th in leap years), with 126 days remaining. ... July 30 is the 211th day (212th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 154 days remaining. ... 1948 is a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar). ... Arraignment is a common law term for the formal reading of a criminal complaint, in the presence of the defendant, to inform him of the charges against him. ... September 9 is the 252nd day of the year (253rd in leap years). ...

Indictment

1. Planning, preparation, initiation, and waging of wars of aggression and invasions of other countries.
2. War crimes and crimes against humanity through the plundering and spoliation of occupied territories, and the seizure of plants both in Austria, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Norway, France, and Russia.
3. War crimes and crimes against humanity through participation in the enslavement and deportation to slave labor on a gigantic scale of concentration camp inmates and civilians in occupied countries, and of prisoners of war, and the mistreatment, terrorization, torture, and murder of enslaved persons.
4. Membership in a criminal organization, the SS.
5. Acting as leaders in a conspiracy to commit the crimes mentioned under counts 1, 2, and 3.

All defendants were indicted on counts 1, 2, 3, and 5. Only Schneider, Bütefisch, and von der Heyde were charged on count 4, "membership in the SS". The SS had been declared a criminal organization previously by the IMT. A war crime is a punishable offense, under international law, for violations of the law of war by any person or persons, military or civilian. ... This article is in need of attention. ... The Republic of Austria (German: Republik Österreich) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. ... Czechoslovakia (Czech: Československo, Slovak: Česko-Slovensko/before 1990 Československo) was a country in Central Europe that existed from 1918 until 1992 (except for the World War II period). ... The Republic of Poland, a democratic country with a population of 38,626,349 and area of 312,685 km², is located in Central Europe, between Germany to the west, the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south, Ukraine and Belarus to the east, and the Baltic Sea, Lithuania and... Norway - Wikipedia /**/ @import /skins/monobook/IE50Fixes. ... The French Republic or France (French: République française or France) is a country whose metropolitan territory is located in western Europe, and which is further made up of a collection of overseas islands and territories located in other continents. ... The Russian Federation (Russian: Росси́йская Федера́ция, transliteration: Rossiyskaya Federatsiya or Rossijskaja Federacija), or Russia (Russian: Росси́я, transliteration: Rossiya or Rossija), is a country that stretches over a vast expanse of eastern Europe and northern Asia. ... SS or ss or Ss may be: The Schutzstaffel, a Nazi paramilitary force Steamship (SS) (ship prefix) The United States Secret Service A submarine not powered by nuclear energy (SS) (United States Navy designator), see SSN A Soviet/Russian surface-to-surface missile, as listed by NATO reporting name Shortstop...

Despite the extensive evidence presented by the prosecution that showed that the company had been deeply involved in Germany's rearmament after World War I from the onset, the tribunal rejected the charges for preparing an aggressive war and for conspiration to that end. On count three ("slave labor"), the judgement "allowed the defendants the benefit of the defense of 'necessity'"" (Telford Taylor, "The Nuremberg War Crimes Trials"; International Conciliation, No.450, April 1949). Only in the case of Auschwitz, where IG Farben had constructed a plant next to the concentration camp with the clear intent to utilize inmates as slave workers, did the tribunal consider the evidence sufficient to prove that IG Farben acted on their own initiative. The tribunal concluded that the defendants could be held responsible only for this one case. Auschwitz is the name loosely used to identify three main Nazi German concentration camps and 45-50 sub-camps. ...

Judge Hebert filed a dissenting opinion, in which he argued that the defense of "necessity" did not apply and that all defendants should have been found guilty on count 3 of the indictment. He stated that

"...the record shows that Farben willingly cooperated and gladly utilized each new source of manpower as it developed. Disregard of basic human rights did not deter these defendants." —[1]  (http://www.mazal.org/archive/nmt/08/NMT08-T1309.htm)

"Willing cooperation with the slave labor utilization of the Third Reich was a matter of corporate policy that permeated the whole Farben organization... For this reason, criminal responsibility goes beyond the actual immediate participants at Auschwitz. It includes other Farben Vorstand plant-managers and embraces all who knowingly participated in the shaping of the corporate policy." —[2]  (http://www.mazal.org/archive/nmt/08/NMT08-T1312.htm), [3]  (http://www.mazal.org/archive/nmt/08/NMT08-T1313.htm)

Judge Hebert filed his statement on December 28, 1948, nearly 5 months after the judgment. December 28 is the 362nd day of the year (363rd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 3 days remaining. ...

Defendants

I — Indicted   G — Indicted and found guilty Hermann Göring Hermann Wilhelm Göring (also Goering or Goring in English) (January 12, 1893 – October 15, 1946) was a prominent and early member of the Nazi party, founder of the Gestapo, and one of the main architects of Nazi Germany. ... The Reichstag is both an institutional assembly and a specific building. ... Hitler addressing SA members in the late 1920s The Sturmabteilung (SA, German for Storm Division and is usually translated as stormtroops or stormtroopers) functioned as a paramilitary organisation of the NSDAP – the German Nazi party. ... Agfa-Gevaert N.V. develops, manufactures and distributes analogue and digital products and systems for the making, processing, and reproduction of images. ... Auschwitz is the name loosely used to identify three main Nazi German concentration camps and 45-50 sub-camps. ... Obersturmbannführer was a paramilitary Nazi Party rank which was used by both the SA and the SS. The title was first created as an SA rank in 1932 after an expansion of the SA created the need for an additional officer rank rating in the field grade level above the... Hauptsturmführer was a Nazi rank of the SS which was used between the years of 1934 and 1945. ... The Oberkommando der Wehrmacht or OKW (Wehrmacht High Command, Armed Forces High Command) was part of the command structure of the Nazi armed forces during World War II. In theory, it served as the military general staff for Adolf Hitlers Third Reich, coordinating the efforts of the German Army...

The defendants Ilgner and Kugler was released immediately after the judgement since they had already been in custody longer than their sentence.

References

• Trial proceedings (http://www.mazal.org/archive/nmt/07/NMT07-C001.htm) from the Mazal Library.
• Description  (http://www.ushmm.org/uia-cgi/uia_doc/photos/6819?hr=null) from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.
• Another description (http://www.ess.uwe.ac.uk/genocide/cntrl10_trials.htm#Farben)