After the end of World War II, Coca-Cola stopped making Fanta, relaunching the brand in 1955. The variety of flavors that were produced during the war period became part of the brand, with over 100 different flavors of Fanta have already been launched worldwide. The most consumed orange-flavored soda in the world was created in 1955, in Italy.
5. I.G. Farben
Interessen-Gemeinschaft Farbenindustrie AG (translating “Paint Industry Interest Group SA”) better known as IG Farben, was a company founded in 1925, after the merger of 8 German chemical companies. Although it was founded before the Nazi regime and had some Jewish partners, the company was created under strong nationalist sentiment and made substantial financial contributions to the Nazi Party in the early 1930s.
In 1932, a year before Nazi regime started, I.G. Farben created a group that became known as the Reichsführer SS Circle of Friends, where party leaders and key supporters could talk about a variety of topics, especially racial supremacy theories and anti-Semitic ideas. I.G Farben has also initiated a dismissal process for all Jewish employees and partners.
Over the next few years, the company grew dramatically due to the German economic boom and the various contracts and support it received directly from the top ranks of the Nazi Party. When the war began in 1939, I.G. Farben was already the fourth largest company in the world.
In 1941, Heinrich Himmler, Reserve Army Commander and General Plenipotentiary for the entire Reich Administration, signed an order supporting the construction of an I.G. Farben plant near Monowitz concentration camp, part of Auschwitz concentration camp complex, in Poland occupied by Germany. In 1943, I.G. Farben had 334 facilities in occupied Europe, nearly half of its workforce of 330,000 men and women consisted on slave labor or recruits, including 30,000 prisoners from Auschwitz. The company made all Germany synthetic rubber and methanol, 90% of its plastics and “organic intermediates”, 84% of its explosives, 75% of its nitrogen and solvents, about 50% of its pharmaceuticals and about 33% of its synthetic fuel, generating billions in profits every year
Bayer group staff of I.G. Farben conducted medical experiments on concentration camp detainees in Auschwitz and in Mauthausen concentration camp. Patients were infected with typhoid fever, tuberculosis, diphtheria, and other illnesses, and then received the drugs the company was developing for treatment. As a result of the cruel experiments, most of the infected detainees did not resist and died.
Documents obtained after the end of World War II proved that I.G. Farben paid 150 Reichsmarks per patient, while the concentration camp administration requested 200 Reichsmarks per person. I.G. Farben even sent a letter to Rudolf Höss, commander of Auschwitz, that the amount requested for the subject was too high. The experiments resulted in new vaccine and drugs being used to this day.
Between 1942 and 1945, a cyanide-based pesticide, Zyklon.B, was used to kill more than one million people, mostly Jewish, at the gas chambers in Europe, including the Auschwitz II and Majdanek extermination camps in the occupied Poland. The poison gas and the gas chamber project were provided by Degesch (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Schädlingsbekämpfung ), a subsidiary of IG Farben.
At the end of World War II, the heinous crimes of I.G. Farben began to be discovered and many executives were convicted of committing war crimes. The company was found guilty and had its dismemberment decreed by the Allies. The Soviet Union agreed to receive as part of its war damage reparation payments, the majority of I.G. Farben’s assets, located in the Soviet occupation zone. The Western Allies decided to split the company in 1951.
Today, after several mergers and sales, the companies resulting from the dissolution of I.G. Farben are the multibillion-dollar giants AGFA, BASF, Hoechst AG (Sanofi-Aventis Conglomerate) and Bayer AG, which manufacture from chemicals products, medicines and paints to hospital machines, as so film and digital products.
6. Jägermeister
Jägermeister (pronounced YAY-guhr-my-stur), is a distilled alcoholic beverage composed of a blend of herbs, roots and fruits, created in 1935 by Curt Mast. Curt’s father, Wilhelm Mast, was a major vinegar maker in the town of Wolfenbüttel, Germany. However, Curt has always been very curious about the manufacture of spirits and liquors, taking over the business a few years later and turning a company into the manufacturer of alcoholic beverages.
The name Jägermeister means master hunter or hunting master and was an ancient working title, which was officially introduced during the Third Reich. Hermann Göring, a German miltary, politician and leader of the Socialist Party of German Workers (Nazi Party), and regarded as Hitler’s successor, was named Reichsjägermeister (Master Reich Hunter).
Curt was a great hunter and businessman, apparently naming a drink from Jägermeister using the Göring title, since his image was very popular on the whole Reich. When the Jägermeister was launched in 1935, its name was already familiar to the Germans, who sometimes called the product “Göring-Schnaps”, something like a Göring drink.
The fact is, because of this connection, Jägermeister became very popular among Nazi soldiers of all ranks, who used a drink to lighten the cold, celebrate the victories and escape the depression and anxiety that battles caused.
Later, the company struggled to distant themselves of any connection with the Nazis, claiming that the drink was an old recipe from local hunters, which is the official story to this day.
7. Jerrycan
Jerrycan or jerry can, are storage gallons made of pressed steel originally capable of storing 5 gallons of fuel. Jerrycan was created in the 1930s to be used by the German army. Its project has undergone several modifications and its main objective was to enable the fast supply for Nazi army vehicles, as well as being a safe way to store and transport fuel on missions.
Prior to the invention of jerrycan, fuel was stored in non-functional cans that took up a lot of space and made it difficult to fill vehicles.
In 1936, at the request of the German army, Eisenwerke Müller & Co. based in Schwelm, Westphalia, developed and produced a pressed metal gallon and an “X” on its side, which served to stiffen and to be as an expansion joint for the gallon. The jerrycan is designed to require no funnels or hoses to fill, a soldier can carry two full or four empty gallons and it will withstand impacts and falls, without the risk of leakage or explosion. The project was approved and during the war period, 19 German companies focused on producing the jerrycans.