Paraxol
The Paraxol GmbH was a subsidiary of 1939 founded Degussa (German Gold and Silver Separating Plant) in Frankfurt for the production of explosives precursor pentaerythritol , the raw material for the military explosives PETN during the Second World War .
history
The company was founded within the framework of the coal and steel scheme and was supposed to produce in four factories spread across Germany. The works were classified as a state secret and were officially referred to as "wood flour plants" for disguise.
- Lippoldsberg (near Bodenfelde on the Weser), camouflage designation "Werk B", completed in 1941, in operation from September 1944.
- Schrobenhausen (Bavaria) cover name "A-Hiag" (abbreviation for Holzverkohlungs-Industrie AG) in the Hagenauer Forest; Construction work 1938–1942; October 1, 1942 Start of operations with around 200 workers.
- Welden Bunker area on Lerchenberg on 40 hectares of woodland 13 km north of the Adelsried motorway exit; Cover name "Z-Hiag", executed 1938–1940.
- Niederlehme (near Berlin), camouflaged letter "W"
Because of camouflage, the factories were set up in the form of small production units in forest areas. All plants had large stores for methanol, which was catalytically converted to formaldehyde on site. The formaldehyde was converted to pentaerythritol together with acetaldehyde using the lime condensation method . Plants A and Z had 2 production units for formaldehyde and 3 production units for pentaerythritol. Plant B and W had 3 formaldehyde plants and 4 pentaerythritol units. This substance, which is harmless in itself and is also used in paints, was further processed in the nitriding plants of "Verwertchemie" and "Deutsche Sprengchemie" with highly concentrated nitric acid to pentaerythritol nitrate or nitropenta . The facilities were dismantled and destroyed after the end of the Second World War.
Some of the works were only completed shortly before the end of the war to the point where production could begin.
The Heereswaffenamt initially ordered over 400 t of pentaerythritol for just under 2 million RM, whereupon DEGUSSA expanded the existing plant in Wildau near Berlin. But the project took on much larger dimensions. The DEGUSSA subsidiary HIAG (Holzverkohlungs-Industrie AG) was supposed to set up four so-called standby factories in different parts of Germany and operate them on a commission basis. In May 1939 a framework agreement was signed according to which four plants were combined in the Reich's own Paraxol GmbH, while DEGUSSA operated the plants in Bodenfelde and Wildau on its own. 600,000 RM were paid for the planning and construction of the new works.
Lippoldsberg became the headquarters of the Verwertungsgesellschaft für Montanindustrie GmbH (MONTAN) in 1943 after the headquarters in Berlin had been destroyed in a bomb attack in autumn. The armaments-related operations were coordinated through this company. In 1945 the administration of MONTAN was in a barrack of the Paraxol plant.
swell
- Philip E. Newman: Explosives Industry US Zone. US Military Government of Germany, 1946, OCLC 560216567 .
- Barbara Hopmann: From Montan to Industrial Management Company (IVG) 1916–1951. Steiner, Stuttgart 1996, ISBN 3-515-06993-3 , p. 80.
- Degussa in the Third Reich, from cooperation to complicity. CH Beck, Munich 2005, ISBN 3-406-52204-1 .
- Winfried Nerdinger (Ed.): Building under National Socialism: Bavaria 1933–1945. Klinkhardt and Biermann, Munich 1993, ISBN 3-7814-0360-2 , p. 461.
Individual evidence
- ^ A b Thomas Thiele: Exhibition shows secret ammunition factory in the forest near Lippoldsberg. In: HNA . May 19, 2016, accessed June 30, 2019 .
