Exhibition in memory of the murdered and surviving inmates of the Buna-Monowitz concentration camp
From 2022 on, Bayer employees in 5 companies’ locations have been invited to visit the travelling Fritz Bauer Institute exhibition „I.G. Farben and the Buna-Monowitz Concentration Camp - Economics and Policy in National Socialism“.
Stefan Oelrich (Bayer Pharmaceuticals), Sara Berger (Fritz Bauer Institute), Matthias Berninger (Bayer AG) and Stefan Klatt (site manager of Bayer Pharma Berlin at the time) at the exhibition opening in Berlin © Bayer AG
In 1941, the chemical corporation I.G. Farben established a chemical factory in the immediate vicinity of the Auschwitz concentration camp. Aside from German skilled laborers, the corporation deployed thousands of inmates from the Auschwitz concentration camp on the enormous construction site, as well as POWs and forced labourers from all over Europe. In 1942, the corporation and the SS, cooperating closely with one another, established the company-owned Buna-Monowitz concentration camp to house the increasing number of inmates. Life expectancy for those sent to Buna-Monowitz was three months on average.
The exhibition explores the establishment, administration, and dissolution of the Buna-Monowitz concentration camp. Historical photographs document the perspectives of the SS and the I.G. Farben corporation on the construction site and everyday life in the camp.
These are contrasted with autobiographical texts from survivors and testimony given by former inmates at postwar trials. The exhibition closes with information on these trials and the efforts of survivors to receive compensation. The German-language exhibition is conceived as a travelling exhibition that is available for rent. An English translation can be found on the institute's website.
The exhibition is one part of a broader cooperation between the Hans and Berthold Finkelstein Foundation and the institute. Together, the two organizations plan to develop further research on the topics of I.G. Farben and NS forced labor.
More information about the exhibition is available on the website of Fritz Bauer Institute.
