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“The Ugliest Crimes in Human History” – Bayer (Farben) Celebrates its 150th Anniversary

Alex Constantine - March 26, 2013

" ... The company was opposed to the Weimar Republic, and made generous donations to national conservative parties, including the Nazi Party. ... "

The Silent Crimes of Bayer AG

A translation of the German post, edited by Alex Constantine

The Coalition against Bayer Dangers (CBD) has filed a counter-motion to the Annual General Meeting of Bayer AG on April 26 in Cologne. Because of a "distorted picture of history," CBD calls for a discharge of the board of directors.

This year, Bayer celebrates its 150th anniversary with numerous celebrity guests. A specially-built airship advertises the Group on all five continents. But the unpleasant chapters of Bayer history are concealed. Issues such as environmental pollution, pesticide poisoning, worker protests or collaboration with the Third Reich are swept under the rug.

Philipp Mimkes sits on the board of the Coalition against Bayer Dangers:

"Bayer was a part of IG Farben, and committed the ugliest crimes in human history. The company supplied Zyklon B for the gas chambers, participated in gruesome medical experiments at Auschwitz, and built a huge factory with slave labor. Tens of thousands of prisoners lost their lives at The Group's concentration camp, Auschwitz-Monowitz. "

Unlike many companies in Germany, Bayer has never commissioned an independent inquiry into the company's history.

Some more background on Bayer: Early on, in the 19th century, there was massive opposition from local residents and workers against Bayer's air and water pollution.

In any corporate brochure there are references to the invention of aspirin. Concealed, however, is the fact that, at roughly the same time, Bayer Heroin was introduced to the drug market as a cough medicine for children. Doctors were aware that the new product was addictive early on.

Longtime Bayer CEO Carl Duisberg's [see press release below] contribution to World War I was the development of poison gas, used illegally on the front. Duisberg was responsible for the deportation of tens of thousands of Belgian forced labor, he also called for the annexation of large portions of Eastern Europe.

For decades, Duisberg oversaw mergers of the German chemical industry with IG Farben. The company became the largest in Europe. The company was opposed to the Weimar Republic, and made generous donations to national conservative parties, including the Nazi Party.

IG Farben was heavily involved in the Third Reich's war of conquest. The group followed the Wehrmacht in conquered countries, and took over most of Europe's chemical industry, coal mines and oil production within a few weeks.

Bayer CEO Kurt Hansen played a central role in the Holocaust. The Nuremberg war crimes trials  addressed this process, eg.: "It is not disputed that SS doctors conducted criminal experiments on concentration camp prisoners. The experiments are carried out for the express purpose of trying out the products of IG Farben. "

Research into the development of chemical warfare agents for the Third Reich was conducted at Bayer laboratories. After the war, Dr. Gerhard Schrader, the inventor of Sarin and Tabun, managed the pesticide department at Bayer. During the Vietnam War, the company was involved in the development of Agent Orange. Production took place at facilities jointly established by Bayer and Monsanto subsidiary Mobay.

CEO Kurt Hansen had joined the Nazi Party in 1931. He was appointed head of the "Central Office for Procurement of Raw Materials" Significantly, Hansen made a smooth transition to BAYER.

During his interrogation in Nuremberg, he said that "no particular harm" was inflicted on the slave laborers at Auschwitz "because they would have been killed without this."

The CBG has initiated a campaign to call attention the dark side of Bayer history. All publications are available at www.cbgnetwork.org/4871.html (PK)

http://www.cbgnetwork.org/4871.html

Press Release

Carl Duisberg: "A Criminal Genius"

September 28, 2011, Coalition against BAYER Dangers (Germany)

29th September 2011 sees the 150th anniversary of the birth of the former Bayer chief executive / Responsible for use of poison gas and forced labour / Coalition demands renaming of streets and removal of honorary citizenship

This Thursday sees the 150th anniversary of the birth of Carl Duisberg, who was chief executive of Bayer AG for many years and intellectual father of IG Farben. The chemist carried significant responsibility for the global rise of the company. During World War I he advocated the use of poison gas, supported the deportation of Belgian forced labourers and demanded the annexation of large areas in Eastern Europe. The pinnacle of Duisberg’s lifetime achievements was the merger of companies within the German chemical industry to create the conglomerate IG Farben.

Jan Pehrke from the Coalition against BAYER Dangers says: “Carl Duisberg literally walked over dead bodies for profit. Due to his responsibility for the use of poison gas, the exploitation of forced labourers and the close cooperation with the Nazi regime, the former Bayer chief executive is not suitable as a role model for future generations!". The Coalition demands the renaming of schools (e.g. Duisberg´s former high school in Wuppertal), streets (e.g. in Bonn, Krefeld, Dortmund and Leverkusen), as well as charitable Carl Duisberg centres. In a letter to the Mayor of Leverkusen, Reinhard Buchhorn, the network is furthermore asking for the removal of Duisberg´s honorary citizenship of Leverkusen.

Already at the end of the 19th century Carl Duisberg marketed heroin ruthlessly, as a supposedly harmless cough remedy. Back then Bayer promoted its 'wonder drugs' Aspirin and Heroin worldwide. When a scientist decried the addictive potential of heroin, Duisberg – he was at that point executive director at Bayer – remarked that one had to “silence the opponents”. Although the addictive dangers became obvious quickly, the corporation continued selling it profitably for many decades.

Carl Duisberg’s role in the exploitation of forced labourers during World War I is also of historic significance. In the autumn of 1916, Duisberg bemoaned the lack of workers and demanded the use of forced labourers with the claim "Open the large human pool of Belgium". The Interior Ministry of the German Reich picked up the proposal of the industry and arranged the deportation of 60,000 Belgians, which led to worldwide protests. The deportation is regarded as the predecessor of the much bigger slave labour programme implemented during World War II.

At the same time, Carl Duisberg developed - together with Fritz Haber - poison gases such as "Gruenkreuz” (phosgene) and “Mustard gas”, tested them on the front for the first time and pushed for their use – knowingly in breach of The Hague Land Warfare Convention. In Leverkusen Duisberg set up a school specifically for chemical warfare. Towards the end of the war Duisberg and Haber were on extradition lists by the allied forces and they feared prosecution as war criminals.

Carl Duisberg’s greatest success was the foundation of IG Farben in 1925, where he was appointed head of the supervisory board. Duisberg had organized the merger of companies within the German chemical industry to form the largest European corporation at the time over many decades.

Duisberg’s stance towards the Weimar Republic was hostile. He organized industry donations to conservative and nationalistic parties, including to the Nazis, from 1930 onwards. In 1931 Duisberg demanded: “The German people constantly cries out for a Führer who will liberate it from its unbearable situation. If a man comes along now who has proved to have no inhibitions, we must follow him unconditionally." In the same year Duisberg demanded, in a speech before the Chamber of Commerce in Dusseldorf, the creation of a European economic area under German domination.

In return for the millions in donations, the Nazis guaranteed to buy synthetic fuel and rubber from IG Farben. From then onwards no other corporation collaborated so closely with the Third Reich. Carl Duisberg crowed on the occasion of his retirement: "I am looking forward to my retirement under our Führer Adolf Hitler." Hitler in return offered his condolences on Duisberg's death in 1935: "With him the German chemical industry has lost one of its first pioneers and a successful leader, and the German industry one of its great organisers. His name will live on honorably in Germany.”

Jan Pehrke from the Coalition against BAYER Dangers concludes: “Carl Duisberg was a convinced nationalist, a man characterized by patriarchal imperiousness and a fierce enemy of trade unions. One can only describe Duisberg as a ‘criminal genius’, who subjugated morals to profits throughout his life." Since the 1980s the Coalition has been concerned with the history of Bayer and, amongst others, published the book “Von Anilin bis Zwangsarbeit – Die Geschichte der IG Farben“ (From Aniline to Forced Labour – The History of IG Farben). Translation: Susanne Schuster (Tlaxcala)

more information: => Hell's Cartel: IG Farben and the Making of Hitler's War Machine => IG Farben: Stock of former Nazi chemicals giant to be delisted => Jew, Christian team up to stress German firms' culpability for war horrors => Campaign NEVER AGAIN! => TURMOIL AT THE IG FARBEN GENERAL MEETING

http://www.cbgnetwork.org/4062.html