8 - The Political Process of IG Farben’s Dissolution

Summary

SECTION 1: CONTROL BY DIVISION

Seizing Assets and Control by Division

Occupation and Asset Seizure

THE POLITICAL PROCESS surrounding the dissolution of IG Farben began with the end of the Second World War, or, more properly, immediately after the end of the battle in Europe, which was a part of the war. The battle in Europe ended with Germany's signing of an unconditional surrender either on 7 May 1945 in Reims or on 8 May in Berlin. At that point IG Farben's activities as a single, unified firm stopped almost completely. Even before that time the United States military had occupied IG Farben units within Germany and across Europe one after another and had seized their assets. The value of IG Farben assets seized in German territory reached about 1 billion Reichsmark, even without fully incorporating the assessed value of patents and trademarks. The total value of IG Farben's assets in German territory, according to balance sheets at the end of 1944, had reached 1.947 billion Reichsmark, excluding capital participation in other firms.

As Figure 8.1 shows, a 57.9% majority of IG Farben's assets in German territory were in the Soviet Zone when Germany was divided by the four occupying powers (the U.S., Britain, France, and the Soviet Union). The remaining 42.1%, or about 1 billion Reichsmark's worth, was in the occupation zones of the Western powers. A breakdown of the latter figure shows 18.3% of assets at the former BASF Ludwigshafen site, 8.5% at the former Bayer Leverkusen site, 6.8% at the former Hoechst site in the place of the same name, and 8.5% of assets in other locations.

In the Western occupation zone, the former BASF Ludwigshafen factory near Mannheim was occupied by U.S. forces in late March 1945 and was placed under the administration of the U.S. military government. The former Bayer plant at Leverkusen near Cologne was also occupied by U.S. forces in April but was placed under British military administration in June. Occupation by the U.S. military began for the Hoechst factory in Frankfurt am Main as well in late March. Quite exceptional among IG Farben's main factories, the Hoechst plant was almost undamaged, having never been the target of Allied strategic bombing.