Never Dismiss History, Even When it is Dark

This vintage bottle by Bayer use to dispense what was considered a wonder drug during it’s time, heroin. In 1898, the Bayer Company started the production of heroin on a commercial scale because it showed to be more effective than codeine in sedating respiratory effects.

As it turned out, the repeated administration of heroin resulted in addicts and was quickly abused.

The production of heroin slowed in the 1930s due to contracts that reallocated resources with the German government.

In 1925, Interessengemeinschaft Farbenindustrie AG, aka IG Farben, was a conglomerate of six companies: BASF, Bayer, Hoechst, Agfa, Chemische Fabrik Griesheim-Elektron and Weiler-ter Meer. Bayer was a member of the conglomerate, IG Farben.

1936, IG Farben entered into a joint production contract called the “Four-Year Plan” with the Nazi Party and Ministry of War for accelerated production of chemical products that would render Germany independent of product dependency from non German countries.

The production expansion from this “Four-Year Plan” resulted in I.G. Farben opening new facilities to maintain the production demands. One of these facilities I.G. Farben opened to produce synthetic oil; a chemical product demanded in the “Four-Year Plan”, was I.G. Auschwitz. I.G. Auschwitz was supplied with expelled Jews and Poles as free labor to work at it’s facility, ie., concentration camp.

Since Bayer was a conglomerate of IG Farben; it took collaborated resources to meet and maintain the production demands of the “Four-Year Plan”. Production of other products, like heroin were deprioritized. This was the reason for the slowed production of the drug in the 30s.