The German Chemical Industry in the Twentieth Century

Transcription

1 The German Chemical Industry in the Twentieth Century

2 Chemists and Chemistry VOLUME 18 A series of books devoted to the examination of the history and development of chemistry from its early emergence as a separate discipline to the present day. The series will describe the personalities, processes, theoretical and technical advances which have shaped our current understanding of chemical science The titles published in this series are listed at the end of this volume.

3 The German Chemical Industry in the Twentieth Century Edited by John E. Lesch University of Berkeley, California Springer-Science+Business Media, B.V.

4 A C. 1. P. Catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. Printed on acid-free paper All Rights Reserved ISBN ISBN (ebook) DOI / Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht Originally published by Kluwer Academic Publishers in Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1 st edition 2000 No part of the material protected by this copyright notice may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the copyright owner.

5 CONTENTS Preface JOHN E. LESCH Introduction PETER HAYES I.G. Farben revisited: Industry and ideology ten years later vii 1 7 PART I: RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGICAL Il\TNOVATION JEFFREY ALLEN JOHNSON The academic-industrial symbiosis in German chemical research, DIETRICH STOLTZENBERG Scientist and industrial manager: Emil Fischer and Carl Duisberg 57 MARGIT SZOLLOSI-JANZE Losing the war but gaining ground: The German chemical industry during World War I 91 PETER LOHNERT AND MANFRED GILL The relationship of I.G. Farben's Agfa Filmfabrik Wolfen to its Jewish scientists and scientists married to Jews, ANTHONY N. STRANGES Germany's synthetic fuel industry, PART II: INTERNATIONAL CONNECTIONS AND COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVES ULRICH MARSCH Business strategies and research organization in the German chemical industry and its role as exemplar for other industries in Germany and Britain 217 AKIRAKUDO Dominance through cooperation: I.G. Farben's Japan strategy 243

6 VI MIRA WILKINS German chemical firms in the United States from the late nineteenth century to the post-world War II period KATHRYN STEEN German chemicals and American politics, PART III THE INDUSTRY SINCE 1945 JONATHAN WIESEN The Richard WillsUitter controversy: The legacy of anti-semitism in the West German chemical industry 347 RAINER KARLSCH Capacity losses, reconstruction, and unfinished modernization: The chemical industry in the Soviet Zone of Occupation (SBZ)/GDR, ASHISH ARORA AND ALFONSO GAMBARDELLA The dynamics of industry structure: The chemical industry in the U.S., Western Europe, and Japan in the 1980s 407 RAYMOND STOKES Gravity and the Rainbow-makers: Some thoughts on the trajectory of the German chemical industry in the twentieth century 441 Index 451

7 Preface This volume had its origin in the discovery of a common interest by colleagues in what are nominally different fields of history. Gerald D. Feldman is a specialist in the political economy of modern Germany. My own work lies in the history of the life sciences and medicine, including medicinal drugs. Each of us had come to recognize the importance of the German chemical industry within his own field, and for the history of the twentieth century. Each of us was aware that the industry had been the subject of vigorous recent scholarship, but we also knew that much remained to be done. The result of this common conviction was our resolution to organize a conference that would bring together an international group of historians and other students of the industry, showcase current scholarship, and encourage new directions of research. The conference on "The German Chemical Industry in the Twentieth Century" took place on March 20-22, 1997, at the University of California, Berkeley, with participants from Britain, Germany, Japan, and the United States. The interest and quality of the papers presented and the level of discussion they occasioned inside and outside of the formal sessions made the meeting a success and publication an obvious course. An encounter with Tony Travis at a meeting of the History of Science Society made me aware of two forthcoming (and now published) collections on the history of the European chemical industry in Kluwer's series on Chemists and Chemistry, to which our volume would make a natural complement. The editors at Kluwer agreed, and the way was open for the present publication. This book owes a great debt to two Berkeley institutions, their directors and staffs. The Center for German and European Studies, of which Gerald D. Feldman is director, funded the conference, took care of all local arrangements, and quickly made its results available to scholars as working papers. Thanks are due especially to Andrea Rapport and Gia White, who did most of the work and who met and overcame multiple challenges with cheerful aplomb. Once the editing for this volume was under way the main burden shifted to the Office for History of Science and Technology. OHST's directors, Roger Hahn and Cathryn Carson, kindly made its staff and resources available for the project. Diana Wear worked closely with me and

8 Vlll PREFACE with the contributors to complete the editing and to prepare a cameraready manuscript for the press. Without her skill, experience, efficiency, patience, and good spirits, completion of this work simply would not have been possible. In this effort she was ably assisted by Alex Wellerstein and WendyYuen. Thanks are also due to three individuals who participated fully in the conference but whose names do not appear in this book's table of contents. Seymour H. Mauskopf, David Hounshell, and Wolfram Fischer served as commentators on papers presented for Parts I, II, and III, respectively. Not only their formal comments but also their presence added much to the vitality and rigor of our discussions, and all of us are indebted to their thoughtful criticism and reflections on the issues. These acknowledgments would not be complete without mention of the I.G. Farben Study Group, an entity that no longer exists but that for several years through its newsletter and the efforts of Raymond Stokes and Peter J.T. Morris gave voice and form to international scholarly interest in the German chemical industry. It was through the Study Group that I first became aware of the relationship of my own work on the development of medicinal drugs at Bayer and I.G. Farben to this wider circle of scholarship. In that sense, at least, this book is a belated child of the Study Group. Finally, I would like to thank the editors at Kluwer Academic Publishers, who welcomed this project and who have worked patiently with us toward its completion.