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BUNA is an acronym formed from the two words BUtadiene and NAtrium (for sodium), denoting a method of polymerizing the chemical butadiene with the catalytic assistance of sodium to form artificial rubber. It was one of the methods used in wartime Germany to alleviate the rubber shortage due to the Allies’ blockade of continental Europe….
DEGESCH (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Schädlingsbekämpfung, German Association for Pest Control) was a limited-liability company specializing in the development of pesticides and pest-control technologies. It was established in 1919 as a subsidiary of the German chemical company Degussa (Deutsche Gold- und Silber-Scheide-Anstalt). In later years, the German chemical trust I.G. Farbenindustrie, Inc., held major parts of…
The company Gaubschat Fahrzeugwerke Ltd. was a Berlin coachwork manufacturer mainly known for producing bus coachworks. During the war, the company also built custom-made coachworks (bodies) for trucks. In April 1942, the German Department of Homeland Security (Reichssicherheitshauptamt, RSHA) approached Gaubschat with the intent to equip the cargo boxes of special vehicles ordered but not…
The trust Interessen-Gemeinschaft Farbenindustrie AG (in short, I.G. Farben) was a conglomerate of German chemical and pharmaceutical companies, including Bayer, BASF, Hoechst and AGFA. It was established in 1925 and dissolved at the end of World War Two. After the war against Poland in late 1939, the I.G. Farben soon made plans to set up…
The Ostrowski Company operated a factory at the Polish city of Koło, some 7 km northwest of the Chełmno Camp. After the war, a damaged moving truck of the German truck manufacturer Magirus, once operated by the moving company “Otto Koehn Spedition,” was discovered on the Ostrowski factory grounds which several witnesses claimed to have…
For many decades, the Swiss Saurer Company was leading in the development of truck Diesel engines. They furthermore had branches in Austria and France. By the time the Second World War broke out, the Swiss and Austrian branches equipped their trucks exclusively with Diesel engines, while the French branch phased out the last gasoline-engine trucks…
Tesch & Stabenow (Testa) was a pest-control company headquartered in Hamburg, Germany, established in 1924. They used a broad variety of methods and techniques. One chemical used was Zyklon B with its active ingredient hydrogen cyanide. Bruno Tesch had been involved in the development of Zyklon B, but the DEGESCH (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Schädlingsbekämpfung, German…
The company J.A. Topf & Söhne (Topf & Sons) of Erfurt, Germany, was established in 1878 with a focus on brewery equipment (malting plants). Prior to World War One, Topf & Sons expanded into the field of furnace manufacture. By the 1920, Topf & Sons had successfully expanded into the field of steam boilers, but…
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