I.G. Farben – The Corporation's Place in German History 

The event will examine the role of the corporation in German history and address current research questions relating to contemporary history. Topics will include the intertwining of industry and National Socialist politics, the exploitation of forced labourers in the Buna-Monowitz camp, and the legal and social reappraisal after 1945. The history of the corporation spans from the Weimar Republic through the Nazi era to the Cold War and only ended with its final liquidation in 2012.

In addition to the history of the corporation, the conference will also address aspects such as the architecture of the I.G. Farben building, the employee culture of the Weimar period, the trials of those responsible, and literary testimonies by Primo Levi. In addition, archive holdings and new source findings will be presented.

The programme includes a keynote speech by Peter Hayes on previously unnoticed sources, contributions on archive materials and company newspapers, and studies on gender roles in the corporation. Other presentations will deal with managerial careers, shareholder structures and early GDR research on I.G. Farben. Finally, the significance of the corporation in the debates on activism, science and criticism of capitalism in the decades around 1989/90 will be discussed.

The public conference will take place at the I.G. Farben House and the Presidium Building of Goethe University Frankfurt am Main and is aimed at an academic audience.

The event is sponsored by the Hans and Berthold Finkelstein Foundation, founded by Bayer AG, and BASF.

Further information is available on the Fritz Bauer Institute website.