Philipp Heinrich Hörlein (5 June 1882 – 23 May 1954), was a German entrepreneur, scientist, lecturer, and

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 ...

Wehrwirtschaftsführer A ''Wehrwirtschaftsführer'' (''WeWiFü''; German language plural: ''Wehrwirtschaftsführer'') was, during the time of Nazi Germany (1933–1945), an executive of a company or of a large factory (). ''Wehrwirtschaftsführer'' were appointed, ...

''. 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 involvement 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 his knowledge of medical experimentation on concentration camp prisoners, but he was ultimately acquitted and released.

Bayer

Hörlein was the son of Heinrich Hörlein, a farmer, and his wife, Philippina (née Dürk).Wollheim Memorial
/ref> He studied chemistry at

Technische Universität Darmstadt The Technische Universität Darmstadt (official English name Technical University of Darmstadt, sometimes also referred to as Darmstadt University of Technology), commonly known as TU Darmstadt, is a research university in the city of Darmsta ...

in 1900, moving on to the

University of Jena The University of Jena, officially the Friedrich Schiller University Jena (, abbreviated FSU, shortened form ''Uni Jena''), is a public research university located in Jena, Thuringia, Germany. The university was established in 1558 and is cou ...

in 1902 and graduating with his doctorate the following year. Having completed his studies under

Ludwig Knorr Ludwig Knorr (2 December 1859 – 4 June 1921) was a German chemist. Together with Carl Paal, he discovered the Paal–Knorr synthesis, and the Knorr quinoline synthesis and Knorr pyrrole synthesis are also named after him. The synthesis in 1883 ...

, he worked as his assistant until 1909 when he took a position with the

Bayer Bayer AG (English: , commonly pronounced ; ) is a German multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company and is one of the largest pharmaceutical companies and biomedical companies in the world. Headquartered in Leverkusen, Bayer' ...

research laboratory in

Elberfeld Elberfeld is a municipal subdivision of the Germany, German city of Wuppertal; it was an independent town until 1929. History The first official mentioning of the geographic area on the banks of today's Wupper River as "''elverfelde''" was ...

. Hörlein succeeded

Arthur Eichengrün Arthur Eichengrün (13 August 1867 – 23 December 1949) was a German Jewish chemist, materials scientist, and inventor. He is known for developing the highly successful anti-gonorrhea drug Protargol, the standard treatment for 50 years until th ...

as the head of the pharmaceutical research laboratories at Bayer in 1911. In this role he developed the

soporific A hypnotic (from Greek ''Hypnos'', sleep), also known as a somnifacient or soporific, and commonly known as sleeping pills, are a class of psychoactive drugs whose primary function is to induce sleep and to treat insomnia (sleeplessness). Th ...

Luminal in 1912, an important drug in the treatment of

epilepsy Epilepsy is a group of Non-communicable disease, non-communicable Neurological disorder, neurological disorders characterized by a tendency for recurrent, unprovoked Seizure, seizures. A seizure is a sudden burst of abnormal electrical activit ...

. In 1914 Hörlein became an authorised signatory at the company, adding a deputy directorship in 1919 before in 1921 becoming an alternate member of the managing board of the company.

IG Farben and Nazi Party activity

In 1925 the conglomerate

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 ...

was established, bringing together Bayer and several other chemical companies. Hörlein was also an alternate member of the new company's managing board and in 1926 was made the head of their pharmaceutical research department. He joined 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 June 1934, one of a number of leading figures at IG Farben to do so once Hitler came to power. The previous year he had almost fallen foul of the Nazis when he campaigned against

Hermann Göring Hermann Wilhelm Göring (or Goering; ; 12 January 1893 – 15 October 1946) was a German Nazism, Nazi politician, aviator, military leader, and convicted war criminal. He was one of the most powerful figures in the Nazi Party, which gov ...

's law banning testing on animals, something Hörlein considered essential to his research. He was eventually able to secure a partial lifting of the ban. Although he was not responsible for developing the powerful nerve agent tabun (it had been developed by

Gerhard Schrader Gerhard Schrader (25 February 1903 – 10 April 1990) was a German chemist specializing in the discovery of new insecticides, hoping to make progress in the fight against hunger in the world. Schrader is best known for his accidental discovery of ...

), Hörlein was the one who recognised its potential value as a weapon of war and passed on information about the discovery to the

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the German Army (1935–1945), ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmac ...

. Hörlein sat on the

vorstand In German corporate governance, a ''Vorstand'' is the executive board of a corporation (public limited company). It is hierarchically subordinate to the supervisory board (''Aufsichtsrat''), as German company law imposes a two-tier board of d ...

of the ''Deutsche Gesellschaft für Schädlingsbekämpfung'', an IG Farben subsidiary company largely concerned with the production of

Zyklon B Zyklon B (; translated Cyclone B) was the trade name of a cyanide-based pesticide invented in Germany in the early 1920s. It consists of hydrogen cyanide (prussic acid), as well as a cautionary eye irritant and one of several adsorbents such ...

. He was regularly privy to the sales figures for the gas and was fully aware of the company's close relationship to the

extermination camp Nazi Germany used six extermination camps (), also called death camps (), or killing centers (), in Central Europe, primarily in occupied Poland, during World War II to systematically murder over 2.7 million peoplemostly Jewsin the Holocau ...

s. He regularly received detailed reports of the

human experimentation Human subject research is systematic, scientific investigation that can be either interventional (a "trial") or observational (no "test article") and involves human beings as research subjects, commonly known as test subjects. Human subject r ...

carried out by Helmuth Vetter, who purchased most of his subjects from the

concentration camp A concentration camp is a prison or other facility used for the internment of political prisoners or politically targeted demographics, such as members of national or ethnic minority groups, on the grounds of national security, or for exploitati ...

s. Towards the end of the war Hörlein, sensing that a German defeat was imminent, moved his operations to

Leverkusen Leverkusen () is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, on the eastern bank of the Rhine. To the south, Leverkusen borders the city of Cologne, and to the north the state capital, Düsseldorf. The city is part of the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan ...

and began to maintain a much lower profile.

Post-war

As a member of the managing board of the company he was one of those to face charges at the

IG Farben trial ''The United States of America vs. Carl Krauch, et al.'', also known as the IG Farben Trial, was the sixth of the twelve trials for war crimes the U.S. authorities held in their occupation zone in Germany (Nuremberg) after the end of World War I ...

. Ultimately he was acquitted and released. He returned to Leverkusen, where he took up a place on the board at Bayer. His wife Marie Hörlein donated 5,000 Euro for and designed the Hörlein Prize, which is for large scientific papers in the field of human medicine. In 1952, he received an honorary doctorate from

. In 1955, the city of Leverkusen named a street after him.Heinrich-Hörlein-Str.

External links

Hörlein Memorial Award

Footnotes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Horlein, Heinrich 1882 births 1954 deaths People from Alzey-Worms People from Rhenish Hesse Nazi Party members 20th-century German chemists IG Farben people Technische Universität Darmstadt alumni University of Jena alumni People acquitted by the United States Nuremberg Military Tribunals