Customer Reviews

Hell's Cartel: IG Farben and the Making of Hitler's War Machine

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Having been closely associated with all three German chemical companies, BASF, BAYER, and HERSCHST [sp],well after WWII, in the plastics industry, I was fascinated by the research done by the author.
What might be considered dry chemical engineering, has been made into a real page turner.
While the cover, and promotion for the book highlights the trials at Nurenberg, the real story is the genius of the German chemists, and their eventual downfall.

This book should be read by anyone with an interest in WWI and WWII.
It outlines the facts on how Hitler was able to murder thousands of people in concentration camps using the gas that IG Farben created. But that's just a small part of the Cartel's power during the 1st and 2nd World Wars.
The research done to bring this book to publication is incredible.

Book was recommended by Book Review in Business Week. Found it to be very accurate. I like proven detail and this book has it. Subject is one that I have read extensively.

Anyone who is fascinated about WWII history, especially the rise and fall of the Nazi regime, will love this book. Anyone who has read this book will tell you that Jefferys did a remarkable job doing his research. An understand of the chemical industry is not needed. Jefferys gives great detail and depth in the opening paragraphs of the situation of the european chemical industry, how germany dominated the scene, the german scientists behind it all, and the eventual merger of the major companies into IG Farben.
I literally found this book hard to put down. Jefferys pulls you along chapter after chapter revealing IG Farbens eventual switch from producing civilian goods to abiding to the furher and Nazi regime for complete war rearmarment. As you read, you will truly find it amazing to see some of the relationships that develop with senior IG executives and the Nazi High command. THe outcome of the trials at nuremburg is something you may or may not find surprising given your knowledge of other outcomes of nazi war criminals, but is riveting nonetheless. This book provides you with further evidence of just how coercive and dominant the Nazi ideology was in all aspects in that it was able to turn honest businessmen and some of the worlds most brilliant minds into one of the crucial parts of hitlers war machine.

This is a fantastic history, focusing on the chemical industries of Germany in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It should be seen as a warning, that when the greed of any business links with the grandiose schemes of a government, that there is no limit to the lengths that the business will go to achieve their financial desires, and that any business will become complicit with the crimes of their government. Aside from that, it is a riveting tale of how the modern chemical and pharmaceutical industries began with synthetic dyes, and of the story of the beginnings of the German nation, and of the horrors of the concentration camps. This last part is not for the weak, because the details are extraordinary, shocking and horrific. Reading this made me wonder how anyone survived at all, since there are several eyewitness accounts.

Of particular interest, I found the beginning story of Bayer and how they developed aspirin to be fascinating, as well as a very unusual sidebar on something else they marketed at the same time.

But above all, remember this book as a warning, and a reminder that left unchecked, any businessman, any company will do anything in the name of the almighty dollar/yen/mark/pound/euro.

Very interesting account of the pre-war (WWI & WWII) German chemical industry & their ever growing ties to political interests. Reveals quite a bit of detail on business dealings, technical innovations of the time, and of course the horiffic outcomes of both wars. I would recommend this for those interested in history and business.

A new perspective on the world wars, providing a perspective from the corporate world, and causing the reader to rethink the simplicity with which history has been presented in contemporary educational institutions.

The author outlines a comprehensive history of the companies that merged into IG Farben. He addresses the technological contributions of each and shows how it really became a hellish cartel. This wasn't a company to be messed with in the world markets.

However, his conclusions about their involvement at the upper levels is a bit sketchy. Make no mistake, this reviewer has no doubts about their guilt. But after reading an entire book methodically detailing involvement it was a bit disconcerting to read modifiers like 'surely' or 'they must have'. (Step up to the plate man!)

It also would have been nice to have seen more of the worlds competition (ICI, Allied, DuPont, etc) in the context of the worlds markets. He mentions them often, but I would have liked more.

All in all, I would recommend this book as an excellent review of the growth of the German chemicals industry. The author outlines the development of household names and household products, and it is a very interesting read. Four stars in my book.

It is a very good book. I read non-stop from cover to cover.
As a Chemical Enginner who worked for multinationals such as DuPont it also relates to the power of Chemical/Technology conglometated that still exists today and how that had been mastefully managed by Hitler before a during WWII.

A very well-researched, well-written insight into how a for-profit organization contributed to the Nazi war machine in WWII. It makes you think once again about the nature of corporation. Can ethics and morality coexist with making profit? I certainly hope so.