IG Farben

IG Farben

World's largest chemical cartel from its founding in Germany until its dissolution by the Allies after World War II. It grew out of a complex merger of German manufacturers of chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and dyestuffs (Farben). Its major members were the companies known today as BASF AG, Bayer AG, Hoechst AG, Agfa-Gevaert Group, and Cassella AG. They formed a loose association in 1916 and were formally united in 1925, with headquarters in Frankfurt. IG Farben expanded internationally in the late 1920s and the 1930s. During World War II, it established a synthetic oil and rubber plant at Auschwitz to take advantage of slave labour by the death camp's inmates, on whom it also conducted drug experiments. After the war, several company officials were convicted of war crimes, and IG Farben was broken up into three independent companies.