Wilhelm Rudolf Mann

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Wilhelm Rudolf Mann during the Nuremberg Trials

Wilhelm Rudolf Mann (born April 4, 1894 in Elberfeld ; † March 10, 1992 in Grainau ) was a German manager of IG Farben and later of Bayer AG paint factories, now Bayer AG .

Life

Wilhelm Rudolf Mann graduated from the commercial school in Cologne in 1910 . Then he did a commercial apprenticeship in the iron and steel works G. & J. Jäger in Elberfeld . In 1914 he took part in the First World War. In 1919 he began to study economics in Cologne. He began his professional career in 1920 at the Hoechst paintworks . In 1922 he became an authorized signatory for the colors division at Hoechst. In 1926 he became a member of the Degesch supervisory board . In 1931, he succeeded his father as a deputy member of the executive board of IG Farben and took over the head of the pharmaceuticals sales group, which he headed until 1945. From 1934 to 1945 he was a full board member of IG Farbenindustrie AG.

In addition, he became chairman of the East Asia committee of IG Farben, from 1935 president of the Society for Consumer Research and from 1937 Reich economic judge. In 1944 he received the War Merit Cross 1st Class . Mann served as Danish Consul General for the Rhineland and Westphalia.

In December 1931, Mann joined the NSDAP , as he testified at the Nuremberg trials : out of fear of communism . However, he resigned at the end of 1932, only to rejoin in 1933. In 1934 he became a storm leader in the SA .

From a letter of November 19, 1943 to Otmar Freiherr von Verschuer it emerges that he was thoroughly informed about the human experiments of the concentration camp doctor Josef Mengele in the Auschwitz concentration and extermination camp and also supported them financially:

"Thank you very much for giving me the opportunity to meet your colleague, Dr. Mengele to get to know. I found his second lecture very impressive. Rest assured that, as I have verbally assured you, I will discuss the financing in my house. (I already enclose a first check). The test series should ... definitely be forced ”.

Mann was married three times and father of three children. His second wife Maria Niehues, whom he married in 1940, was a daughter of the Nordhorn textile entrepreneur Bernhard Niehues .

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After the war, man was arrested and in 1948 in the IG Farben process because of looting , robbery and mass murder accused acquitted on 30 July 1948th

In 1949 he became head of pharmaceutical sales at Farbenfabriken Bayer AG, later renamed Bayer AG . He was also President of the Society for Consumer Research (GfK) until 1955 . After founding the Federation of German Industries (BDI), Mann was chairman of the foreign trade committee from 1950 to 1953.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Wilhelm Rudolf Mann (1894–1992) at www.wollheim-memorial.de
  2. ↑ Henry Ashby Turner : The Big Entrepreneurs and the Rise of Hitler . Siedler Verlag, Berlin 1985, ISBN 3-88680-143-8 , p. 289.
  3. ↑ Henry Ashby Turner: The Big Entrepreneurs and the Rise of Hitler . Siedler Verlag, Berlin 1985, ISBN 3-88680-143-8 , p. 352 f.
  4. ^ Quotation from Ernst Klee : Das Personenlexikon zum Third Reich. Who was what before and after 1945 . Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, Second updated edition, Frankfurt am Main 2005, ISBN 978-3-596-16048-8 , p. 389 with reference to a facsimile copy by Peter Ferdinand Koch: Menschenversuche , Munich 1996, p. 179.
  5. ^ Niehues family chronicle. In: Facebook. Accessed April 30, 2020 .
  6. ^ Ernst Klee: Das Personenlexikon zum Third Reich , Fischer Taschenbuch 2007, p. 389.
personal data
SURNAME Man, Wilhelm Rudolf
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German manager of IG Farben
DATE OF BIRTH April 4, 1894
PLACE OF BIRTH Elberfeld
DATE OF DEATH March 10, 1992
Place of death Grainau