Newsgroups: alt.revisionism
Subject: Holocaust Almanac - I.G. Farben embraces Nazi antisemitism
Summary: Farben purges Jewish management, takes over Austrian chemical 
         industry through campaign of fear and intimidation
Reply-To: kmcvay@nizkor.org
Followup-To: alt.revisionism
Organization: The Nizkor Project, Vancouver Island, CANADA
Keywords: Austria,Farben

Archive/File: orgs/germany/farben farben.008
Last-modified: 1993/06/10

   "...As country after country collapsed in the face of Hitler's
   'Operation Terror,' I.G.'s embrace of the Nazis became progressively
   more passionate. As country after country fell to the Wehrmacht's
   assualt, I.G. played jackal to Hitler's lion.

   Despite Hitler's apparent invincibility, I.G. continued to calculate
   the odds and prepare for all contingencies. The acquisitions, no
   matter how brutal, were inevitably accomplished with the color of
   legality, a charade designed to protect I.G.'s interests in the
   improbable event that Germany lost the war. But this veneer of
   lawfulness could not conceal the terror I.G.'s methods evoked in its
   victims. And those in I.G. who would challenge the wisdom of such a
   course were silenced not only by a fear of Nazi retribution but also
   by I.G.'s great success.

   The invasion of Austria ... marked the beginning of Hitler's policy
   to move beyond the borders of Germany by force. I.G. was ready within
   days after the troops started to march. It presented the Nazi
   occupation officials with a memorandum entitled 'New Order for the
   Greater Chemical Industry of Austria.'<1> Essentially, the 'new
   order' plan was a request for government permission for I.G. to take
   over Skoda Werke Wetzler, the largest chemical concern in Austria.
   I.G. made sure to clothe its plea with the rhetoric of German
   national interests. The erstwhile Jewish company was now ready to
   goose-step with Hitler. The absorption of the Austrian concern, I.G.
   promised, would aid in the pursuit of the aims of the four-year plan
   as well as promote the elimination of Jewish influence in Austrian
   industry. Skoda Werke Wetzler was dominated by the Jewish Rothschild,
   and I.G. made the most of this fact.

   The Rothschilds were not naive. Even before the Anschluss, they had
   recognized I.G.'s intentions. Through the general manager of Skoda,
   Isador Pollack, they tried to thwart I.G.'s acquisitive plans.<2> To
   this end, Pollack explored the possibility of merger with two other
   European chemical organizations, Montecatini of Italy and Aussiger
   Verein of Czechoslovakia. But I.G. proved too formidable, and the
   mergers were never seriously entertained by either the Czech or the
   Italian company.

   Hitler's move into Austria left terror in its wake, and the chemical
   industry was no exception. Immediately after the Anschluss, all the
   top Jewish personnel of Skoda were dismissed by government decree.
   I.G. filled the breach by supplying Aryan technicians.<3> However, to
   protect the takeover against possible future legal challenges, I.G.
   entered into negotiations with Josef Joham, the personal
   representative of the Rothschilds.<4> Joham, also a Jew and therefor
   personally vulnerable, was hardly in a position to oppose I.G.'s
   demands. These kept enlarging as the so-called negotiations
   proceeded. When necessary, I.G. was not reluctant to use the
   anti-Semitic threat to squeeze out the terms it considered suitable.
   After a series of annoying difficulties posed by the Nazi bureaucracy
   in Austria, I.G. finally in the fall of 1938 claimed Skoda as its
   own.<5> By that time, Joham had fled the country <6> but Pollack, not
   so fortunate, was literally stomped to death by Nazi Storm Troopers
   before he could make his escape.<7>" (Borkin, 95-96)
   
   <1> TWC, VII, pp. 1404-1406, NI-4024 
   <2> TWC, VII, p. 1393, NI-9289
   <3> TWC, VII, p.1406, NI-4024
   <4> TWC, VII, pp. 1399-1400, NI-3982; and pp. 1401-1403, NI-3981
   <5> TWC, VII, pp. 1414-1415, NI-9289
   <6> DuBois, Josiah, "The Devil's Chemists," Beacon Press, Boston,
       1952, p. 92
   <7> Hilberg, Raul, "The Destruction of the European Jews," Quadrangle
       Books, Chicago, 1961, p. 61; NI-10998, affidavit of Joham.

   Abbreviations:

   Published Nuremberg War Crimes Trials Records:

   TWC: Trials of War Criminals Before the Nuremberg Military Tribunals,
   Under Control Council No.  10.  (U.S.  Government Printing Office,
   1953) 

   Documents in National Archives Collection, World War II Crimes
   Records (some of which have been included as exhibits in above
   publications, some of which are available only at the Archives):
 
   NI: "Nuremberg, Industrialists"

                            Work Cited

   Borkin, Joseph. The Crime and Punishment of I.G. Farben. New York: 
   The Free Press, 1978, and London: Macmillan Publishing Company. 

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