Digitalization of the archival holding I 506 IG Farbenindustrie AG, Chemische Werke Bitterfeld (1878-1956) from the state archives of Saxony-Anhalt

• Applicant: Dr. Detlev Heiden
• Subject Area: Modern and Contemporary History
• Term: from 2019 to 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 415522473

The industrial area near Bitterfeld became very important in the field of chemical industry from the end of the 19th century. Thus, in 1894, the first large-scale technical plant for chlor-alkali electrolysis was put into operation and in 1900 the first plant in Germany for the production of phosphorus using the electrothermical process. Based on the post-chlorinated PVC developed in Bitterfeld, the world's first fully synthetic fiber was produced in 1934 at the Filmfabrik Wolfen (Pe-Ce fiber).During the First World War, Bitterfeld became the center of explosives production and produced chlorine and phosgene for use as poison gas. In 1925, with the founding of the IG Farbenindustrie AG, the factories became part of a particularly powerful company in German economic history. The plant in Bitterfeld became the headquarters of the IG Farben Betriebsgemeinschaft Mitteldeutschland.During the Second World War, the production of the companies of IG Farben was changed over to the needs of the defense industry, mainly on basic and precursor products, such as nitric and hydrochloric acid, cellulose, rayon and light metals.With SMAD's Order No. 124 of Oct. 30, 1945, the plant in Bitterfeld was placed under the control of the Soviet administration and in 1946 incorporated into the SAG Mineral Düngemittel "Kaustik". After that, the factory name was VEB Elektrochemisches Kombinat Bitterfeld.The fully descripted and online researchable collection (I 506 IG Farbenindustrie AG, Chemische Werke Bitterfeld, approximately 58 linear meters) contains compacted documents of economic history. This archival holding exemplifies a unique feature of the state archives in the new federal states of Germany (formerly German Democratic Republic) and reflects the multiple breaks of different political and economic systems. The digitization of the entire collection will enable those interested therein – regardless of time and location - to work on a variety of research questions about the center of the chemical industry in central Germany. Conceivable are studies on the history of the IG Farben or (supraregional) comparative considerations with other production sites of the (chemical) economy. This will further increase the national and international use of this holding through significantly improved accessibility.As it has been consistently realized since 2014 within the digitization strategy of the Landesarchiv Saxony-Anhalt, at the end of the project, all digital copies will be made accessible not only via the research portal of the Landesarchiv, but also through various national portals (Archivportal-D, DDB, Archivportal Europa).

• DFG Programme: Cataloguing and Digitisation (Scientific Library Services and Information Systems)