Hans Kuehne

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Kühne in Nuremberg in 1948

Hans Kühne (born June 3, 1880 in Magdeburg , † February 18, 1969 in Lindau ) was a German chemist on the board of IG Farben and a defendant during the Nuremberg trials .

Life

After attending school in Magdeburg, he completed an apprenticeship as a pharmacist and studied chemistry from 1903. After completing his studies in 1906, he was employed at the Marienhütte chemical factory in Langelsheim , then at the Chemischen Industrie AG Gelsenkirchen-Schalke and finally at the W. Feld chemical factory in Höhningen . During the First World War in 1915, Kühne served on the Western Front as a soldier. Kühne, married and father of four children, worked for Bayer Leverkusen from 1916 . There he was involved in the development of the "Müller-Kühne process" for the production of sulfuric acid . He was appointed Deputy Director at Bayer in 1921, headed the “Inorganic Department” and was a deputy member of the Board of Management there from 1923.

At IG Farben, he became a full board member of the working committee in 1926 and was a member of the technical and chemicals committee. From 1933 he headed the Bayer factory in Leverkusen until his retirement in 1945. In 1938 he took over the chairmanship of the Southeast Committee of the Chemicals Economic Group and was also a member of several supervisory boards of occupied companies in the areas occupied by Germany.

After the end of the war, Kühne was arrested by the US Army in 1947 and charged with 22 other accused in the IG Farben trial during the Nuremberg trials . On July 30, 1948, Kühne and ten other defendants were acquitted on the basis of the evidence.

The University of Cologne had already made Kühne an honorary senator in 1938. As recently as 1955, the recently founded Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences at Cologne University awarded him the first ever honorary doctorate it had awarded .

Kühne, who found a job at Bayer Elberfeld after being released by Ulrich Haberland , died in mid-February 1969.

literature

  • Jens Ulrich Heine: Verstand & Schicksal: The men of IG Farbenindustrie AG (1925-1945) in 161 short biographies. Weinheim, Verlag Chemie, 1990. ISBN 3527281444

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Freitäger, Andreas: Honorary Citizen and Honorary Senators of the University of Cologne 1925-2004. With a list of the holders of the university medal . Cologne 2005, p. 11 .
  2. ↑ Dean's Office of the Math.-Nat. Faculty (Hrsg.): Mathematical and natural science faculty of the University of Cologne . Overath 1997, p. 9 .
personal data
SURNAME Kühne, Hans
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German chemist and defendant during the Nuremberg trials
DATE OF BIRTH June 3, 1880
PLACE OF BIRTH Magdeburg
DATE OF DEATH 18th February 1969
Place of death Lindau