IG Farben

[David Morris]

Who knew Germany was/is so sunny?

On Wednesday, November 21, 2012, wrote:

> "German solar power plants produced a world record 22 gigawatts of
> electricity per hour - equal to 20 nuclear power stations at full capacity
> - through the midday hours on Friday and Saturday, the head of a renewable
> energy think tank said.
>
> The German government decided to abandon nuclear power after the Fukushima
> nuclear disaster last year, closing eight plants immediately and shutting
> down the remaining nine by 2022."
>
>
> http://www.reuters.com/**article/2012/05/26/us-climate-**germany-solar-**
> idUSBRE84P0FI20120526<http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/26/us-climate-germany-solar-idUSBRE84P0FI20120526>
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/**Solar_power_in_Germany<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_power_in_Germany>
>
> When it comes to energy, I'm a Deutschophile.
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Kai Frederik Lorentzen <lorentzen at hotmail.de>
> To: Erik T. Burns <eburns at gmail.com>; pynchon-l <pynchon-l at waste.org>
> Sent: Wed, Nov 21, 2012 7:38 am
> Subject: Re: IG Farben
>
>
>
> On 21.11.2012 00:47, Erik T. Burns wrote:
>
>
> via that Metafilter convo (which was actually yesterday and didn't develop
> into much) there are some amazing links, including to Sasuly's book on IG
> Farben to much else on the Nuremburg war crime trials.
>
> right here:
>
> http://www.metafilter.com/**122021/A-streaker-comes-**
> across-the-stage-It-has-**happened-before-but-there-is-**
> nothing-to-compare-it-to-now#**4695505<http://www.metafilter.com/122021/A-streaker-comes-across-the-stage-It-has-happened-before-but-there-is-nothing-to-compare-it-to-now#4695505>
>
> more on Sasuly, who is indeed mentioned by Weisburger in the companion:
> http://www.thomaspynchon.com/**gravitys-rainbow/extra/farben.**html<http://www.thomaspynchon.com/gravitys-rainbow/extra/farben.html>
>
>
>
>
>
>  Because of buna rubber, strong links were established between IG and
>>>
>> Standard Oil Co. of NJ (...).<<
>
> Frank Howard, the head of research at Standard, visited I. G.'s Leuna
> works in 1926. He was so impressed that he immediately fired off a telegram
> to Standard's president, Walter Teagle, then visiting in Paris. "Based upon
> observations and discussion today, I think that this matter is the most
> important which has ever faced the company since the dissolution," wired
> Howard. "This means absolutely the independence of Europe in the matter of
> gasoline supply." Teagle himself, alarmed about the possibility of losing
> European markets to the new synthetic oil, hurried to Leuna. The research
> and production facilities awed him: "I had not known what research meant
> until I saw it," he later said. "We were babies compared to the work I saw."
> Teagle, Howard and other Standard executives hurriedly gathered at a hotel
> room in Heidelberg, ten miles from the I. G. Farben works. They concluded,
> Howard later recalled, that the hydrogenation process might be "more
> significant than any technical factor ever introduced into the oil industry
> up to the time." Here, in the laboratories of I. G. Farben, was a clear
> threat to the Standard's business. "Although hydrogenation of coal probably
> could never compete on an economic basis with crude oil," said Howard,
> "'the nationalistic factor' would lead to hydrogenation's being made the
> foundation of a protected manufacturing industry in many countries willing
> to pay the price." Thus, markets could be closed to imported crude oil and
> refined products; Standard could hardly afford not to become involved.
> An initial agreement was therefore reached with I. G. Farben, which
> allowed Standard to build a hydrogenation plant in Louisiana. But by this
> time, the world oil shortage was beginning to turn into a surplus, and the
> American company's interest shifted. Hydrogenation could also be used on
> crude oil, to increase the gasoline yield. Thus, the new plant in Louisiana
> would experimentally apply the process not to coal, but to oil, in order to
> squeeze more gasoline out of each barrel of petroleum.
> In 1929 the companies struck a broader agreement. Standard would have the
> patent rights to hydrogenation outside of Germany. In exchange I. G. Farben
> received 2 percent of Standard's stock - 546, 000 shares - valued at $35
> million. Each company agreed to stay out of the other's main field of
> activity. As a Standard official put it, "The I. G. Farben are going to
> stay out of the oil business --- and we are going to stay out of the
> chemical business." The next step came in 1930, with the establishment of a
> joint company to share developments in the "oil-chemical" field. Overall, a
> good deal of technical knowledge was flowing to Standard.
>
> Daniel Yergin: The Prize. The Epic Quest for Oil, Money and Power (chapter
> 17)
>
> In 1938 Germany - despite the Leuna product - had to import 90, 000
> barrels of oil daily; changing volumes came from Venezuela, Peru, Russia
> and Iran; 10, 000 barrels each were delivered by Mexico and Romania; the
> largest part - 25,000 barrels - came from the USA.
>
> (see Daniele Ganser: Europa im Erdölrausch, p. 69)
>
>
>
>
>
>
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