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{{Infobox company
{{original research|date=March 2009}}
| name = American IG Chemical Corporation
⚫
'''American IG''' is the name of a [[company (law)|company]], and it owes its genesis to a [[Germany|German]] business [[Conglomerate (company)|conglomerate]], namely, Interessens-Gemeinschaft Farbenindustrie AG, or [[IG Farben]] for short. The business and the industrial empire, which the “IG” controlled and commanded has been described as “a state within a state”.
| industry = Chemical Industry
| founded = 1929
| successor = GAF Corp (Wilmington)
| hq_location = New York
| hq_location_city = New York City
| hq_location_country = USA
| products = Pharmaceuticals, photographic products, lightweight metals, synthetic gasoline, synthetic rubber, dyes, fertilizers, and insecticides
| footnotes = https://pm20.zbw.eu/folder/co/0473xx/047314/about.en.html
}}


The '''American IG Chemical Corporation''', or '''American IG''' for short, was an American holding company incorporated under the [[Delaware General Corporation Law]] in April 1929 and headquartered in [[New York City]]. It had stakes in General Aniline Works (GAW), [[Agfa]]-Ansco Corporation, and Winthrop Chemical Company, among others, and was engaged in manufacture and sale of pharmaceuticals, photographic products, light weight metals, synthetic gasoline, synthetic rubber, dyes, fertilizers, and insecticides. The [[Moody's Manual|Moody's industrial manual]] listed an affiliation between [[IG Farben]] and American IG at the time of founding.<ref name="Wilkins">Wilkins, Mira. [https://books.google.com/books?id=iRqI37ouGLEC&dq=American%20IG&pg=PP1 ''The history of foreign investment in the United States, 1914-1945'']. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2004</ref>{{rp|241}} First, [[Hermann Schmitz (industrialist)|Hermann Schmitz]], who was the second after Carl Bosch in IG Farben's hierarchy, and then his brother, Dietrich A. Schmitz, served as American IG's presidents.<ref name="Wilkins" />{{rp|408}} It was re-incorporated as General Aniline & Film (GAF) Corp. in 1939 after a merger with General Aniline Works.<ref>[https://www.asbestos.com/companies/gaf-corporation/ General Aniline and Film Corporation (GAF)]</ref>
⚫
The Farben cartel was created in 1925, when [[Hermann Schmitz (industrialist)|Hermann Schmitz]], the master organizer, with the [[Wall Street]] financial assistance, created the super-giant chemical corporation, combining six already giant German chemical companies — [[BASF|Badische Anilin- und Sodafabrik Ludwigshafen (BASF)]], [[Bayer]], [[Agfa]], [[Hoechst AG|Hoechst]], [[Weiler-ter-Meer]], and [[Griesheim-Elektron]]. These six companies were merged into '''Interessen-Gemeinschaft Farbenindustrie AG''' or, [[IG Farben]], for short.


==Origin==
In the year 1928, American holdings of IG Farben, namely, the American branches of [[Bayer]] Company, [[General Aniline Works]], [[Agfa]] Ansco, and [[Winthrop Chemical Company]], were organized into a Swiss holding company, which was christened '''Internationale Gesellschaft für Chemische Unternehmungen AG''' or [[IG Chemie]], in short. The controlling interest of this entity rested with IG Farben in [[Germany]]. In the following year, in 1929, just a decade before the outbreak of the [[Second World War]], these American firms merged to become '''American IG Chemical Corporation''', or American IG, later renamed '''General Aniline & Film'''.
⚫
American IG owes its genesis to a [[Germany|German]] business [[Conglomerate (company)|conglomerate]], namely, Interessens-Gemeinschaft Farbenindustrie AG, or IG Farben for short. The business, along with the industrial empire that IG Farben controlled and commanded, has been described as "a state within a state."


⚫
The Farben cartel was created in 1925, when [[Hermann Schmitz (industrialist)|Hermann Schmitz]], the master organizer, with [[Wall Street]] financial assistance, created the giant chemical corporation, combining six German chemical companies — [[BASF|Badische Anilin- und Sodafabrik Ludwigshafen (BASF)]], [[Bayer]], [[Agfa]], [[Hoechst AG|Hoechst]], [[Weiler-ter-Meer]], and [[Griesheim-Elektron]]. These six companies were merged into '''Interessen-Gemeinschaft Farbenindustrie AG''', or IG Farben for short.
⚫
On the eve of [[World War II]], [[IG Farben]], the German chemical conglomerate was the largest manufacturing enterprise in the world and exercised extraordinary economic and political clout in the Nazi Germany. In 1936, they were the principal source for [[Zyklon B]], the poison used in German [[concentration camp]]s. From 1942-1945, the company used slave labor from [[Nazism|Nazi]] [[concentration camp]]s. After 1945, three members of the Board of Governors of American IG were tried and convicted as German war criminals. In 1952, the [[IG Farben]] was split into [[BASF]], [[Bayer]], and [[Hoechst AG|Hoechst]] again.


In the year 1929, the American holdings of IG Farben, namely, the American branches of [[Bayer]] Company, [[General Aniline Works]] (formerly Grasselli Dyes), [[Agfa]] Ansco, 50% interest in [[Winthrop Chemical Company]],<ref>Winthrop Chemical Company was a 50/50 joint venture of Sterling Drug and IG Farben. This arrangement allowed I.G. Farben to reenter the U.S. pharmaceutical market after World War I. See: {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20100919080419/http://colorantshistory.org/SterlingWinthropChem.html Sterling Drug, Winthrop Chemical, and I.G. Farben]}}</ref> and 50% in [[Alcoa]]'s American Magnesium Corporation<ref name="Neubauer" /> were incorporated under the laws of Delaware under the name '''American I.G. Chemical Corporation'''.<ref>{{cite book |title=Investment Trusts and Investment Companies: Report Pursuant to Section 30 of the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 · Parts 4-5 |publisher=The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) |date=1942 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DSsWAQAAMAAJ&dq=American+IG+chemical+corporation&pg=PA136|page=136}}</ref> The certificate of incorporation was filed with the [[Securities and Exchange Commission]] in 1929.<ref name="Neubauer" /> American IG was controlled by a Swiss holding company in [[Basel]] called '''Internationale Gesellschaft für Chemische Unternehmungen AG''' (International Corporation for Chemical Engineering) or [[IG Chemie]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Chandler |first=Alfred D. |title=Scale and Scope: The Dynamics of Industrial Capitalism |date=1994 |publisher=Harvard University Press |page=573 |isbn=9780674789951 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LW9tb2bGGkEC&dq=american+ig+agfa&pg=PA573}}</ref>
⚫
General Aniline & Film (or GAF) went on to produce the [[View-Master]], a children's toy, now made today by [[Mattel]]'s "[[Fisher-Price]]" division. GAF today still exists as [[GAF Materials Corporation]], mainly as a manufacturer of [[asphalt]] and building materials.

The controlling interest of this entity rested with IG Farben in [[Germany]]. In the following decade before the outbreak of the [[Second World War]], the '''American IG Chemical Corporation''', or American IG, played important role in manufacturing of dyes, chemicals, and fertilizers, among others. Among its board of directors members were [[Edsel Ford]] and [[Walter C. Teagle]].

In 1933–1939, American IG repeatedly denied its ties with I.G. Farben and reported to the [[U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission]], first, that it "had no parent", then, that it "did not know if whether it had a parent."<ref name="Wilkins" />{{rp|408}}

On October 30, 1939, after a merge with General Aniline Works, the stock of American I.G. Chemical Corporation was transferred to General Aniline & Film Corporation.<ref>[[Antony C. Sutton]]. [http://www.reformation.org/wall-st-ch2.html ''Wall Street and the Rise of Hitler'']. New Rochelle, New York: Arlington House Publishers, 1976.</ref> Its assets were valued as $10,880,860 with holdings in Standard Oil ($6,979,946), Sterling Products Inc. ($2,424,320), and du Pont ($899,250).<ref name="Neubauer" />
[[File:American IG Chemical Corporation debenture (cropped).png|thumb|500px|center|1929 American IG Chemical Corporation [[debenture]]]]

==Legacy==
⚫
On the eve of [[World War II]], IG Farben, the German chemical conglomerate, was among the largest manufacturing enterprises in the world and exercised extraordinary economic and political clout in Nazi Germany and abroad. During the war it became the principal source for [[Zyklon B]], the pesticide used in German [[concentration camp]]s to murder their victims. From 1942 to 1945, the company used slave labor from [[Nazism|Nazi]] [[concentration camp]]s. After 1945, three former members of the board of governors of American IG were tried and convicted as German war criminals.

In the United States IG Farben's power was broken by the Justice Department even before the war started, and Assistant Attorney General, [[Thurman Arnold]] played a prominent role in uncloaking the association of IG Farben's American affiliates with its parent company. After the United States entered the WWII, the [[Office of Alien Property Custodian#World War II|Office of Alien Property Custodian]] starting from March 11, 1942, took control of all Nazi Germany-related assets in the country.<ref>[http://www.oldkingsroad.com/Ansco/brady/ansco1.htm Ansco]</ref><ref name="Neubauer">Neubauer, William C. [https://web.archive.org/web/20200124041536/http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.860.8192&rep=rep1&type=pdf ''Activities of I.G. Farbenindustrie in the United States, 1929 until March 11, 1942''], University of Richmond, 1969.</ref><ref>Huddle, F. P. (1945). [http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/document.php?id=cqresrre1945070700#H2_3 Enemy property], ''Editorial Research Reports'', 1945, Vol. II. Washington, DC: CQ Press.</ref>

In 1952, IG Farben was split into [[BASF]], [[Bayer]], and [[Hoechst AG|Hoechst]].

In 1965, the U.S. government sold General Aniline & Film, or GAF stock.<ref>[http://www.lipsitzponterio.com/jobsites-Ansco_Binghamton_New_York_Asbestos_Exposure.html Ansco: Asbestos Exposure]</ref>

⚫
As a result of its 1966 acquisition of [[Sawyer's]], GAF went on to produce the [[View-Master]], a children's toy, made today by [[Mattel]]'s [[Fisher-Price]] division. GAF today still exists as [[GAF Materials Corporation]], mainly as a manufacturer of [[Asphalt concrete|asphalt]] and building materials.


==See also==
==See also==
Line 14: Line 42:


==References==
==References==
{{Reflist}}
*[http://www.reformed-theology.org/html/books/wall_street/ Wall Street and the Rise of Hitler]
⚫
*[http://www.colorantshistory.org/IGFarbenAmerica.html I.G. Farben in America: The Technologies of General Aniline and Film]
⚫
* Mira Wilkins: ''The history of foreign investment in the United States'', 1914-1945, Harvard University Press.


==Further reading==
⚫
* Robert J. Baptista and Anthony S. Travis. {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20070823014121/http://www.colorantshistory.org/IGFarbenAmerica.html I. G. Farben in America: The Technologies of General Aniline & Film]}}, ''History and Technology,'' Volume 22, 2006.
* [[Antony C. Sutton]]. [http://www.reformation.org/wall-st-hitler.html ''Wall Street and the Rise of Hitler'']. New Rochelle, New York: Arlington House Publishers, 1976.
⚫
* [[Mira Wilkins]]. [https://books.google.com/books?id=iRqI37ouGLEC&dq=American%20IG&pg=PP1 ''The history of foreign investment in the United States, 1914-1945'']. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2004

==External links==
* {{PM20|FID=co/047314|TEXT=Documents and clippings about|NAME=}}


{{IG Farben}}
{{IG Farben}}

[[Category:Companies based in New Jersey]]
[[Category:Companies based in New Jersey]]

Latest revision as of 21:49, 7 April 2024

American IG Chemical Corporation
IndustryChemical Industry
Founded1929
SuccessorGAF Corp (Wilmington)
HeadquartersNew York,
New York City
,
USA
ProductsPharmaceuticals, photographic products, lightweight metals, synthetic gasoline, synthetic rubber, dyes, fertilizers, and insecticides
ParentIG Farben Edit this on Wikidata
Footnotes / references
https://pm20.zbw.eu/folder/co/0473xx/047314/about.en.html

The American IG Chemical Corporation, or American IG for short, was an American holding company incorporated under the Delaware General Corporation Law in April 1929 and headquartered in New York City. It had stakes in General Aniline Works (GAW), Agfa-Ansco Corporation, and Winthrop Chemical Company, among others, and was engaged in manufacture and sale of pharmaceuticals, photographic products, light weight metals, synthetic gasoline, synthetic rubber, dyes, fertilizers, and insecticides. The Moody's industrial manual listed an affiliation between IG Farben and American IG at the time of founding.[1]: 241  First, Hermann Schmitz, who was the second after Carl Bosch in IG Farben's hierarchy, and then his brother, Dietrich A. Schmitz, served as American IG's presidents.[1]: 408  It was re-incorporated as General Aniline & Film (GAF) Corp. in 1939 after a merger with General Aniline Works.[2]

Origin

[edit]

American IG owes its genesis to a German business conglomerate, namely, Interessens-Gemeinschaft Farbenindustrie AG, or IG Farben for short. The business, along with the industrial empire that IG Farben controlled and commanded, has been described as "a state within a state."

The Farben cartel was created in 1925, when Hermann Schmitz, the master organizer, with Wall Street financial assistance, created the giant chemical corporation, combining six German chemical companies — Badische Anilin- und Sodafabrik Ludwigshafen (BASF), Bayer, Agfa, Hoechst, Weiler-ter-Meer, and Griesheim-Elektron. These six companies were merged into Interessen-Gemeinschaft Farbenindustrie AG, or IG Farben for short.

In the year 1929, the American holdings of IG Farben, namely, the American branches of Bayer Company, General Aniline Works (formerly Grasselli Dyes), Agfa Ansco, 50% interest in Winthrop Chemical Company,[3] and 50% in Alcoa's American Magnesium Corporation[4] were incorporated under the laws of Delaware under the name American I.G. Chemical Corporation.[5] The certificate of incorporation was filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission in 1929.[4] American IG was controlled by a Swiss holding company in Basel called Internationale Gesellschaft für Chemische Unternehmungen AG (International Corporation for Chemical Engineering) or IG Chemie.[6]

The controlling interest of this entity rested with IG Farben in Germany. In the following decade before the outbreak of the Second World War, the American IG Chemical Corporation, or American IG, played important role in manufacturing of dyes, chemicals, and fertilizers, among others. Among its board of directors members were Edsel Ford and Walter C. Teagle.

In 1933–1939, American IG repeatedly denied its ties with I.G. Farben and reported to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, first, that it "had no parent", then, that it "did not know if whether it had a parent."[1]: 408 

On October 30, 1939, after a merge with General Aniline Works, the stock of American I.G. Chemical Corporation was transferred to General Aniline & Film Corporation.[7] Its assets were valued as $10,880,860 with holdings in Standard Oil ($6,979,946), Sterling Products Inc. ($2,424,320), and du Pont ($899,250).[4]

1929 American IG Chemical Corporation debenture

Legacy

[edit]

On the eve of World War II, IG Farben, the German chemical conglomerate, was among the largest manufacturing enterprises in the world and exercised extraordinary economic and political clout in Nazi Germany and abroad. During the war it became the principal source for Zyklon B, the pesticide used in German concentration camps to murder their victims. From 1942 to 1945, the company used slave labor from Nazi concentration camps. After 1945, three former members of the board of governors of American IG were tried and convicted as German war criminals.

In the United States IG Farben's power was broken by the Justice Department even before the war started, and Assistant Attorney General, Thurman Arnold played a prominent role in uncloaking the association of IG Farben's American affiliates with its parent company. After the United States entered the WWII, the Office of Alien Property Custodian starting from March 11, 1942, took control of all Nazi Germany-related assets in the country.[8][4][9]

In 1952, IG Farben was split into BASF, Bayer, and Hoechst.

In 1965, the U.S. government sold General Aniline & Film, or GAF stock.[10]

As a result of its 1966 acquisition of Sawyer's, GAF went on to produce the View-Master, a children's toy, made today by Mattel's Fisher-Price division. GAF today still exists as GAF Materials Corporation, mainly as a manufacturer of asphalt and building materials.

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c Wilkins, Mira. The history of foreign investment in the United States, 1914-1945. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2004
  2. ^ General Aniline and Film Corporation (GAF)
  3. ^ Winthrop Chemical Company was a 50/50 joint venture of Sterling Drug and IG Farben. This arrangement allowed I.G. Farben to reenter the U.S. pharmaceutical market after World War I. See: Sterling Drug, Winthrop Chemical, and I.G. Farben[usurped]
  4. ^ a b c d Neubauer, William C. Activities of I.G. Farbenindustrie in the United States, 1929 until March 11, 1942, University of Richmond, 1969.
  5. ^ Investment Trusts and Investment Companies: Report Pursuant to Section 30 of the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 · Parts 4-5. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). 1942. p. 136.
  6. ^ Chandler, Alfred D. (1994). Scale and Scope: The Dynamics of Industrial Capitalism. Harvard University Press. p. 573. ISBN 9780674789951.
  7. ^ Antony C. Sutton. Wall Street and the Rise of Hitler. New Rochelle, New York: Arlington House Publishers, 1976.
  8. ^ Ansco
  9. ^ Huddle, F. P. (1945). Enemy property, Editorial Research Reports, 1945, Vol. II. Washington, DC: CQ Press.
  10. ^ Ansco: Asbestos Exposure

Further reading

[edit]
[edit]
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