Filmfabrik Wolfen

Poggendorff, op. cit. (70), vol. VII a, part 2, 98-99. See Manfred Gill and Peter Lohnert, Judishe Chemiker aus Dessau in der Filmfabrik Wolfen (Dessau Moses Mendelssohn, 1997), pp. 25-26. 

Peter Lohnert and Manfred Gill, "The relationship of I.G. Farben s AGFA Filmfabrik Wolfen to its Jewish scientists and to the scientists married to Jews, 1933-1939," in this volume. 

Archives of the Agfa-Filmfabrik Wolfen, "Agfa annual report 1915," 191, 72f. 

The following abbreviations are used BDCG, Berichte Deutsche Chemische Gesellschaft) UA, Unternechmensarchiv der Filmfabrik Wolfen. 

Unternehmensarchiv der Filmfabrik Wolfen no. A17903, Work plan of the Wissenschaftliche Abteilung UA no. A1544. 

The mid-1930s was a time of innovation in manufacture of color film. The screen process and the Technicolor method were still used, but involved technical difficulties. In 1935 Kodak marketed Kodachrom film, a multilayered color film based on chemical processes. At the Filmfabrik Wolfen too, research was crowned with success as the company introduced a new multilayered color film developed by Wilmann s team, Agfa-colorfilm-Neu , in 1936. In 1939 the company presented a further development of the Agfacolor process, and in 1941 the first full-length motion picture was made using the new product. ... 

In parallel with the work in films the Filmfabrik Wolfen became an important producer of synthetic fibers. The initial occasion for this direction came from Agfa s search for a nonflammable underlay based on acetylcellulose to replace the explosive nitro-cellulose in film manufacturing. ... 

Fritz Gajewski as head of I.G. Farben Sparte III and director of the Filmfabrik Wolfen... 

Between 1933 and 1938 the situaton of Jewish employees in a company depended to a large extent on the behavior of the company director. The director s room for maneuver was eliminated only in 1938, when pressures from the National Socialist state and party could no longer be resisted. Fritz Gajewski, who was head of Sparte III (Division III) of I.G. Farben, had been director of the Filmfabrik Wolfen since 1930. ... 

As director of the Filmfabrik Wolfen Gajewski was responsible for 11,000 employees. As head of Sparte III he was the leader of another 28,000 employees manufacturing photographic products, synthetic fibers, and plastics. He was vice-chairman of the I.G. Farben technical committee (TEA) and a member of the executive board as well as the central committee. He was also a member of several business organizations and technical commissions. Due to this concentration of posts in his person, Gajewski spent only about 100 days each year in his Wolfen office, according to his testimony at the Nuremberg trial. ... 

Gajewski s actions as director of the Filmfabrik Wolfen between 1933 and 1938, and beyond, are representative of the company s evolution from a position of respect and support for its Jewish scientists and scientists married to Jews, to the company s decision to dismiss all Jewish employees under pressure from state and party. In the following sectons we will document this evolution and in so doing lend support to Peter Hayes findings on the Filmfabrik Wolfen. ... 

In mid-April 1945 American troops occupied Leipzig, and on April 19 they took over the Filmfabrik Wolfen. When they withdrew by late June the Americans took away large parts of the scientific library as well as the patent archive and some scientists. Eggert was moved to Munich in the American zone. 

The Filmfabrik Wolfen was but one part of the much larger combine, I.G. Farbenindustrie. Despite its great size, I.G. Farben was, in turn, only a part of German industry in the 1930s. A comprehensive picture of the situation of Jewish employees and employees with Jewish family members in German industry during the National Socialist period will require many more detailed studies of companies and individuals. It is our hope that this account of the Filmfabrik Wolfen and its director will contribute to the realization of this larger project. 

Agfa Filmfabrik Wolfen 1909 Films, Synthetic Fibers... 

See Erhard Finger, Die Filmfabrik Wolfen. Portraet eines traditionsreichen Unternehmens 1909 bis 1994 (Wolfen, 1994), 29ff. 

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