Brabag (Braunkohle Benzin AG) was a German firm, planned in 1933 and operating from 1934 until 1945, that distilled synthetic

aviation fuel Aviation fuels are petroleum-based fuels, or petroleum and synthetic fuel blends, used to power aircraft. They have more stringent requirements than fuels used for ground use, such as heating and road transport, and contain additives to enhanc ...

, diesel fuel, gasoline,

lubricant A lubricant (sometimes shortened to lube) is a substance that helps to reduce friction between surfaces in mutual contact, which ultimately reduces the heat generated when the surfaces move. It may also have the function of transmitting forces, t ...

s, and paraffin wax from

lignite Lignite, often referred to as brown coal, is a soft, brown, combustible, sedimentary rock formed from naturally compressed peat. It has a carbon content around 25–35%, and is considered the lowest rank of coal due to its relatively low heat ...

. It was an industrial cartel firm closely supervised by the Nazi regime; while it operated, it produced commodities vital to the German military forces before and during World War II. After substantial damage from strategic bombing, the firm and its remaining assets were dissolved at the end of the war.

History

Brabag, sometimes called 'BRABAG', is a portmanteau acronym (german: Braunkohlen Benzin AG) denoting the firm's chief inputs and outputs: brown coal (lignite) and gasoline ('benzine'). Upon the ramp-up of the Nazi program of industrial autarky that marked the approach of war, Berlin saw that one of its weakest points was the almost complete absence of

crude oil Petroleum, also known as crude oil, or simply oil, is a naturally occurring yellowish-black liquid mixture of mainly hydrocarbons, and is found in geological formations. The name ''petroleum'' covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crude ...

production within German borders; this insight coincided with the emergence in both Hitler's Chancellery and the

General Staff A military staff or general staff (also referred to as army staff, navy staff, or air staff within the individual services) is a group of officers, enlisted and civilian staff who serve the commander of a division or other large military un ...

of a belief in a

blitzkrieg Blitzkrieg ( , ; from 'lightning' + 'war') is a word used to describe a surprise attack using a rapid, overwhelming force concentration that may consist of armored and motorized or mechanized infantry formations, together with close air su ...

war-fighting strategy that centered on Panzer warfare, buttressed by warplanes carrying out tactical air support. This strategy needed synthetic petroleum products. Berlin therefore in October 1934 ordered the German chemical conglomerate

I.G. Farben Interessengemeinschaft Farbenindustrie AG (), commonly known as IG Farben (German for 'IG Dyestuffs'), was a German chemical and pharmaceutical conglomerate. Formed in 1925 from a merger of six chemical companies—BASF, Bayer, Hoechst, Agfa, ...

to join with a cartel of lignite mineowners and other firms to invest 100.0 million Reichsmarks as an initial tranche of venture capital; these funds were used to set up a new firm, Brabag. The new firm was ordered to distill gasoline and other synthetic petroleum products, of which Germany had very little, from lignite, of which the Germans had an ample supply. Chemists had invented the Bergius process and the Fischer-Tropsch process to accomplish this goal. Soon plants were built. In 1937, for example, Brabag completed the Brabag II facility in Ruhland-Schwarlheide (the 4th Nazi Germany Fischer-Tropsch plant) to produce gasoline and diesel fuel from lignite coal.

Forced labor

As Germany deepened its commitment to World War II, Brabag's plants became vital elements of the war effort. Like other strategic firms under the Nazi regime, Brabag was assigned a significant quota of forced labor of conscripts from the occupied nations. One estimate counts 13,000

Nazi concentration camp From 1933 to 1945, Nazi Germany operated more than a thousand concentration camps, (officially) or (more commonly). The Nazi concentration camps are distinguished from other types of Nazi camps such as forced-labor camps, as well as concen ...

laborers working for Brabag. Brabag plants were a target of the Oil Campaign of World War II. Production of synthetic petroleum products had been severely damaged by the end of the war in 1945.

References

{{Authority control Chemical companies of Germany Chemical companies established in 1934 Defunct companies of Germany IG Farben Oil companies of Germany Synthetic fuel companies Energy companies established in 1934 1934 establishments in Germany Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1945 1945 disestablishments in Germany