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By H. Peter Dreyer
The eyes of the world turn once again to Nurem-
berg where 24 directors of IG Farben, the largest
and most powerful chemical combine of the world,
have been formally charged with participation in a
long list of war crimes. If this indictment has
received much more notice than the war crimes
trials held during the past few months at Nurem-
berg, Dachau, Ravensbrueck, and other places inside
and outside Germany, if it recalls to mind the
original accusations against Hermann Goering and
other top Nazi leaders, this is not entirely due to
the character and size of the Farben Combine.
There is a very definite parallel: like Goering and
his fellow defendant these 24 Farben officials have
been accused of the gravest of war crimes-the
planning and preparation of war itself, an accusation
which must be all the weightier since outwardly
at least the Farben directors were not ministers,
generals, or party leaders, but industrialists and
businessmen-so-called priyate citizens.
Yet, for all its outstanding importance, the
Farben case also forms a very distinct part of the
pattern set by the trials which have been going on
in Nuremberg for the past six months and which
had been planned even before the International
Military Tribunal had concluded its sessions. It was
(Above) Palace of Justice where the trials are
being held. (Below) Brig. Gen. Telford Taylor,
Chief of Counsel for War Crimes, opening the case
against the physicians and scientists.
Photos from PRO, OCC
19 MAY 1947