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IG Farben (6) Nonsense

The Great Depression left intact Bosch's decision to produce synthetic fuel from coal, but not everyone shared his opinion of IG Farben. In July 1930, upon returning from vacation, Bosch found some of the directors who, in open rebellion, calling for the immediate closure of the Leuna plant. Given the discrepancy, both sides agreed to form two committees to independently assess the viability of the project. The first issued an unfavorable report. With the falling price of oil, synthetic gasoline could only be viable if the government subsidized, which would depend on him and therefore be willing to accept influence. The second committee, however, recommended the continuation of the project, and the weight of Carl Bosch upset the decision in its favor. Soon after, Bergius and Bosch received the Nobel Prize in physics for "the invention and development of high-pressure chemical processes." Bosch was the first engineer to receive the distinction.

Meanwhile, the presence of many Jews among their managers and technicians to IG Farben had become the target of the Nazis, who devoted themselves to represent it as "IG Moloch" in reference to the bloodthirsty god Semite, or a grotesque caricature of Shylock with the name "Isidore G. Farber. " Nazi attacks were troubling, and at the end of 1931 it was decided to Gattineau Heinrich, a promising employee with excellent relations with the National Socialist Party, as head of the press in Berlin. Over the next year the IG Farben executives noted the rise of the Nazi party. In the presidential elections of March 1932, the NSDAP received 36.8% of the vote, and in the Reichstag elections of July, the percentage rose to 37.4%, becoming the largest political force in parliament, with a higher percentage than the sum of the Social Democratic (21.9%) and Communist (14.6%). Hitler asked President Hindenburg being appointed Chancellor, but he declined. Without the support of Hitler's government was unstable, and new elections were scheduled for November.

Bosch decided it was time to contact with Hitler. Gattineau asked to request an appointment, which would come himself and Gattineau Buetefisch Heinrich, who, though there was forty years old, was technical director of Leuna and an authority on high pressure processes. The meeting took place in November in Munich, just before the elections. Hitler was obviously tired in the election campaign unfolded, but showed great interest and great knowledge on the production of synthetic fuel. Germany needed to remain independent of foreign supplies, he said, and an economy without oil was unthinkable. Thus "German couple fuel engines must become a reality, even if it requires sacrifices and therefore it is essential that the process of hydrogenation of coal continue" . Was scheduled for thirty minutes for the interview, but was extended for two hours. Hitler assured the envoys and IG that the company could count on your support, both politically and financially. When reported to Bosch, he exclaimed: "This man is wiser than I thought.

elections in November 1932 the Nazi Party fell to 33.1%, while the Communist Party rose to 16.9%. The alarm spread among the entrepreneurs. Hjalmar Schacht, president of the Reichsbank, reached agreement with leading industrial and wrote a letter to President Hindenburg, which, in essence, asked to appoint Hitler Chancellor. It was signed by such influential people such as Krupp, Siemens, Thyssen, Bosch (the Carl's uncle), von Schroeder and Voegler. Carl Bosch was not among them. Schacht returned in February to address the industrial and requested the contribution of a million marks to support the campaign of the Nazi party. IG agreed to collaborate with 400,000 frames, by far the largest individual contribution. IG support to Hitler was now official. In the March 1933 elections, the Nazi party won 5.5 million votes more than in previous elections, and reached 43.9% of the vote.

Shortly after the election Bosch and Hitler met for the first time. At first things went well. Hitler confirmed his wish that Germany was self-sufficient in fuel, and reiterated its full support to the project for hydrogenation. Bosch At one point raised a question that aides had advised him to avoid. If Jewish scientists were forced to leave the country, he explained, chemistry and physics in Germany 100 years recede. Hitler lost his composure, he shouted, then work 100 years without physical or chemical. Then, with his face on, called his secretary and, without addressing Bosch, said her visitor wanted to leave. Never met again. Bosch continued his campaign for Jewish scientists. As Fritz Haber, who in April had been dismissed from his professorship at the University of Berlin. It did not help much. Haber was forced to flee Germany, and died in January 1934, abandoned and devastated in Basel.

But the personal hostility between Hitler and Bosch did not interfere with the shared project of creating synthetic gasoline. On December 14, 1933 Bosch and Schmitz, on behalf of IG, signed an agreement with the government to dramatically increase the production of Leuna in the next four years so that by the end of 1937, was able to produce 350,000 tons Annual fuel. In return, the government promised to guarantee a price much higher than oil, to cover production costs and 5% in profits. Thus, economic uncertainty vanished completely from the horizon of IG Farben.

Meanwhile, once set the basis for achieving fuel self-sufficiency in Germany, Hitler looked for other commodities, and most important was the rubber. Here he met opposition from both the army and Hjalmar Schacht, who had just been appointed Reich Minister of Economics. The objections of the military stemmed from the fact that, until then, none of the synthetic rubber substitutes, buna included, were acceptable. For the second it was a mere economic issue: the cost of Buna was 5.5 times higher than the market price of the latex.

In September 1935 held in Nuremberg the 7th congress of the Nazi party called Congress of freedom "(freedom, in this case, concerned against the Treaty of Versailles), which Leni Riefenstahl reflected in a documentary entitled "Freedom Day: Our Wehrmacht." Among other things, Hitler announced that synthetic rubber could be considered a solved problem. So Bosch, despite opposition from Schacht, began building a new plant in Buna in Schkopau, near Leuna. In April 1936, Göring was appointed Commissioner of Raw Materials, and placed Carl Krauch, director of IG, the head of its committee of experts. He immediately began writing a four-year plan to achieve self-sufficiency of raw materials aimed, in essence, prepare Germany for war. Hitler announced in the next Congress in Nuremberg ("Congress Honor" documentary Riefenstahl "Nuremberg holiday): " In four years Germany must be completely independent of foreign countries with respect to all materials , in one form or another, can be produced through the German ability in chemistry, engineering and mining . "

90% of planned investment in the four-year plan for the sector were q uímico, and 73% directly to IG Farben. Over the next year saw a strong Nazification process of the company. The majority of the directors joined the National Socialist Party, while all Jews were purged from office managers and technicians. Meanwhile, the struggle between Schacht, on the one hand, and Göring and IG Farben on the other, all ended with the collapse of the first in 1937 was stripped of his power. In parallel, Göring was relying increasingly on Krauch. His efforts in preparing Germany for war were recognized by Hitler, who awarded him the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross.