Friedrich Gajewski (13 October 1885 – 2 December 1965) was a

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

German businessman with

IG Farben I. G. Farbenindustrie AG, commonly known as IG Farben, was a German Chemical industry, chemical and Pharmaceutical industry, pharmaceutical conglomerate (company), conglomerate. It was formed on December 2, 1925 from a merger of six chemical co ...

and '' Wehrwirtschaftsführer'' (war economy leader) during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. He was tried for

war crimes A war crime is a violation of the laws of war that gives rise to individual criminal responsibility for actions by combatants in action, such as intentionally killing civilians or intentionally killing prisoners of war, torture, taking hos ...

for his role in

the Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

and acquitted.

Early years

One of twelve children, Gajewski only had limited schooling due to his family's lack of money but, following the completion of an apprenticeship as a pharmacist, he was able to enrol in the University of Leipzig in 1905 to study chemistry and pharmacy. He completed his doctorate in 1910 and served for a year in the military, as was mandatory at the time.Friedrich (Fritz) Gajewski (1885–1965)
/ref> He entered civilian employment in 1912 with BASF but returned to the German Imperial Army in 1914, serving in the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

until 1917. He was recalled to manage the BASF gas works at Ludwigshafen-Oppau and around this time he married Elisabeth Seckler, eventually fathering two daughters.

Career at IG Farben

Gajewski first came to prominence at IG Farben in 1925 when he was appointed assistant to Carl Bosch and a director of the company in 1925. His career at the company was concentrated on photographic products, with Gajewski appointed technical director of Agfa in 1928 and head of IG Farben's Product Division III (photographic supplies, artificial silk and cellulose-based products) two years later, whilst he was also made a full member of IG Farben's managing board in 1932. These roles required him to work closely with Dynamit Nobel and as such he was on that company's supervisory board from 1936 until 1945.

Nazi activities

Gajewski became a member of the

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party ( or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism. Its precursor ...

in 1933. Gajewski demonstrated his support for the Nazi '' Weltanschauung'' during an incident in late 1938 involving a former colleague at IG Farben. Gerhard Ollendorf, a Jew, had been a member of the board in the early 1930s but had fallen afoul of Nazi laws and in November 1938 told Gajewski that he intended to leave Germany. Although Gajewski wished him luck he immediately wrote to the

Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...

, informing them that Ollendorf was in possession of sensitive information and that it would not be wise to allow him to leave. Ollendorf was prevented from leaving until eventually Gajewski relented and endorsed his departure.Jeffreys, p. 191 His role as a member of the company's South-East Europe Committee, a post he took up in 1940, made him a regular visitor to IG Farben sites that had been established in occupied and satellite territories such as

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

, and

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. His position as a '' Wehrwirtschaftsführer'' was confirmed in 1942.

Post-war

Gajewski was arrested by the US Army on 5 October 1945. He was brought before the IG Farben trial in 1947 and, although the case saw details of his denouncing of Jewish members of IG Farben's managing board following the Nazi takeover, he was nonetheless acquitted of war crimes. Indeed, Gerhard Ollendorf had initially written an affidavit in defence of Gajewski, who he believed had aided his departure from Germany, but he withdrew the statement after Gajewski's letter to the Gestapo was discovered and read out in court. He returned to the business world with Dynamit Nobel, becoming chairman of the company in 1952 and was awarded the Großes Verdienstkreuz the following year by the West German government. He also chaired the boards at Genschow & Co. and Chemie-Verwaltungs AG as well as holding board membership at two other companies.Jeffreys, p. 347 He retired in 1957 and ended his days in the Hahnwald suburb of Cologne.

Bibliography

*Diarmuid Jeffreys, ''Hell's Cartel: IG Farben and the Making of Hitler's War Machine'', Bloomsbury, 2009

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gajewski, Fritz 1885 births 1965 deaths Businesspeople from North Rhine-Westphalia IG Farben people German chemical industry businesspeople German Army personnel of World War I People from Pillau Commanders Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany People acquitted by the United States Nuremberg Military Tribunals Leipzig University alumni