English source-aligned edition
Fritz ter Meer
Fritz ter Meer served as IG Farben executive-board member and chair of its Technical Committee; convicted of spoliation in occupied countries and participation in forced labour. The profile reconstructs the person’s function in occupied Poland and France — IG Farben, Auschwitz-Monowitz and seized enterprises through documented office, decisions, supervision or operational conduct. It does not assign every crime committed by an institution or region to one individual.
Confirmed findings
- Ter Meer was a member of the IG Farben executive board and chair of its Technical Committee, placing him among the conglomerate’s senior managers.
- The IG Farben Tribunal convicted him on Count II. It found him personally responsible for Farben’s participation in spoliation in Poland and Alsace-Lorraine and for negotiations leading to the Francolor agreement.
- For the Auschwitz and Fürstengrube enterprises, the Tribunal found that ter Meer actively participated in procuring forced labour while aware of the workers’ suffering and severe conditions; he was convicted on Count III.
- All defendants were acquitted on Counts I and V concerning crimes against peace and conspiracy to commit them; ter Meer was not charged under Count IV concerning SS membership.
- He was sentenced to seven years in prison but released for good behaviour in 1950. In 1956 he joined Bayer AG’s supervisory board and remained there until 1964.
Place in the chain of responsibility
The profile individualises a senior corporate officer’s responsibility through specific judicial findings: participation in property seizures and active procurement of forced labour. It does not rely on board membership alone and does not attribute to ter Meer every IG Farben operation, every plant or medical experiments conducted by others.
Key events and mechanisms
- attendance at the 6 February 1941 meeting on Buna expansion that preceded the selection of Auschwitz as the site
- participation in spoliation in Poland, Alsace-Lorraine and the Francolor agreement during occupation
- active involvement in procuring forced labour for the Auschwitz and Fürstengrube enterprises
- sentence of seven years’ imprisonment in the IG Farben Trial on 30 July 1948
- appointment to Bayer AG’s supervisory board in 1956
The circle records authority, function and agency. Several profiles may describe different parts of the same persecution chain, so profile-level totals must not be added together.
Postwar accountability
The United States Military Tribunal in the IG Farben Trial convicted ter Meer on Counts II and III and sentenced him to seven years in prison. He was released for good behaviour in 1950. Bayer AG elected him to its supervisory board in 1956; he remained a member until 1964. He died in 1967.
Limits of the evidence
The judgment links ter Meer personally to specified acts of spoliation and to forced-labour procurement for Auschwitz and Fürstengrube. The profile does not attribute to him all IG Farben activities, conditions at every construction site, Zyklon B production or medical experiments. His convictions were on Counts II and III; all defendants were acquitted on the crimes-against-peace and related conspiracy counts.
Sources
The source set combines institutional, archival, trial or scholarly material from at least two independent publishers.