Misused invention: people linked to the production of Zyklon B in Bohemia (Czech Republic) during WWII

Abstract

Zyklon B is the trade name of the insecticide of the German company IG Farben. Its original intended use was for disinfection, disinsection and pest control. From 1941, it began to be used as an instrument of genocide in the gas chambers of extermination camps during the World War II, especially in the Auschwitz-Birkenau and Majdanek camps.Industrially, the factory Dessauer Werke für Zucker und chemische Industrie (DZR) first started producing Zyklon B in the business year 1924/25; until 1935 this factory was the only producer of this gas. Zyklon B was also produced by its then branch Draslovka in Kolín in Czechoslovakia (during WWII Protectorat Böhmen und Mähren). In the years 1941-1943, the vast majority of this gas was produced in Dessau (e.g. in 1943, 399.2 tons in Dessau compared to 58.4 tons in Kolín), we do not know the exact data for the years 1944 and 1945.There were also people of Jewish origin in the management of the Kolín factory, in relatively high positions. The paper will focus on the fate of the factory and its employees during the war in the context of the war situation, and especially on the fate of engineer Viktor Graf and dr. engineer Viktor Grossmann, both of Jewish origin, who were members of the management board of Kaliwerke AG until 1941.