I.G Farben Trial

(August 27, 1947-July 30, 1948)

Carl Krauch : 6 Years Imprisonment
Hermann Schmitz : 4 Years Imprisonment
Hans Kugler : 1 Year Imprisonment
Georg von Schnitzler : 5 Years Imprisonment
Fritz Gajewski : Acquitted & Released
Heinrich Hörlein : Acquitted & Released
August Knieriem : Acquitted & Released
Fritz Ter Meer : 7 Years Imprisonment
Christian Schneider : Acquitted & Released
Otto Ambros : 8 Years Imprisonment
Max Brüggemann : Severed from the Case (Due to Illness)
Ernst Burgin : 2 Years Imprisonment
Heinrich Bütefisch : 6 Years Imprisonment
Paul Häfliger : 2 Years Imprisonment
Max Ilgner : 3 Years Imprisonment
Friedrich Jähne : 1 1/2 Years Imprisonment
Hans Kühne : Acquitted & Released
Carl Lautenschläger : Acquitted & Released
Wilhelm Mann : Acquitted & Released
Heinrich Oster : 2 Years Imprisonment
Carl Würster : Acquitted & Released
Walter Dürrfeld : 8 Years Imprisonment
Heinrich Gattineau : Acquitted & Released
Erich von der Heyde : Acquitted & Released

The I.G. Farben Trial, the sixth subsequent Nuremberg proceeding, was tried by the Military Tribunal VI, which had been created by the U.S. Military Government for Germany on August 8, 1947. An indictment was filed on May 3 naming twenty-four defendants, all in the IG Farben industrial concern, and listing five counts: the planning, preparation, initiation, and waging of wars of aggression and invasions of other countries; committing war crimes and crimes against humanity through the plunder and spoliation of public and private property in countries and territories that came under German occupation; committing war crimes and crimes against humanity through participating in the enslavement and deportation for slave labor of civilians from German-occupied territories and of German nationals; participation by defendants Christian Schneider, Heinrich Buetefisch, and Erich von der Heyde in the SS, a recently-declared criminal organization; and participation in a common plan or conspiracy to commit crimes against peace.

The trial began with the twenty-four defendants but ended with only twenty-three, after the case against Max Brueggemann was discontinued on September 9, 1947, because of illness. The trial ran from August 27, 1947, to June 11, 1948, making it the third longest Nuremberg proceeding after the main IMT trial and the Ministries Case (the eleventh subsequent trial). The Tribunal returned its judgment on July 29 and 30, acquitting all of the defendants on counts one and five, and the three defendants charged in count four. Nine of the defendants were found guilty of the charges in count two and five were found guilty of the charges in count three. Altogether, ten of the defendants were acquitted completely. The thirteen defendants found guilty were sentenced on July 30, receiving prison terms ranging from one and one half years to eight years in prison, including time already served.