Leuna works: Difference between revisions

{{short description|Chemical industrial complex in  Germany}}

The '''Leuna works''' ({{lang-de|Leunawerke}}) in [[Leuna]], [[Saxony-Anhalt]], is one of the biggest chemical industrial complexes in [[Germany]].<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.infraleuna.de/en/leuna-site/the-area/ | title = The area | publisher = Infra Leuna}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://benchmarkia.com/industrial-parks-for-subscribers/|title=Industrial Park Ranking|publisher = Benchmarkia: Crowd-Based Sustainability Benchmarking|access-date=2024-07-12 }}</ref> The site, now owned jointly by companies such as [[Total S.A.TotalEnergies]], [[BASF]], [[The Linde Group|Linde AGplc]], and [[DOMO Group]], covers 13&nbsp;km² and produces a very wide range of chemicals and plastics.

In 1920, the ammonia works of Leuna and Oppau merged into ''Ammoniakwerke Merseburg-Oppau GmbH''.

In late 1925, BASF became a branch of [[IG Farben]], operating as ''Ammoniakwerk Merseburg GmbH – Leuna Werke''. The site was rapidly expanded in the 1920s and 1930s, with plants producing [[methanol]], synthetic [[petrol]] derived from the hydrogenation of lignite, [[amine]]s and [[detergent]]s.<ref name=infraleuna>[https://web.archive.org/web/20070711015728/http://www.infraleuna.de/cms_e/index.php?history History at the InfraLeuna website]</ref>}Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis, Catalysts and Catalysis The synthesis of petrol, although expensive compared to world market prices, was pursued in order to reduce Germany's dependency on imported [[petroleum|oil products]]. As Germany only possesses very few petroleum deposits of its own, seven hydrogenation plants had beenwere constructed and were producing insynthetic petrol by 1939., Leuna wasbeing the largest of them.

Construction of the [[syntheticBuna rubberWerke Schkopau]] plant [[Bunasynthetic Werke Schkopaurubber]] plant, then a subsidiary of Leuna ammonia works, started in 1936.

[[File:Heinrich Buetefisch.jpg|thumb|right|200px|[[Heinrich Bütefisch]], head of operations at Leuna works]]

As one of the largest [[Brabag|synthetic oil plant]]s and second most extensive chemical operation in [[Nazi Germany]], the [[IG Farben]] Leuna works headed by [[Heinrich Bütefisch]]<ref name=Speer>{{cite book |last=Speer |first=Albert |authorlink=Albert Speer |year=1970 |others=Translated by [[Richard and Clara Winston]] |title=Inside the Third Reich |publisher=Macmillan |location=New York and Toronto |isbn=978-0-684-82949-4 |page=[https://archive.org/details/insidethirdreich00spee/page/415 415] |lccn=70119132|title-link=Inside the Third Reich }}</ref> was a prime target for the [[Oil Campaign of World War II|Allied bombing offensive against German oil production]]. Leuna had been the first plant to test the [[Bergius process]], thatwhich synthesized oil products from lignite, but switched to brown [[coal tar]] in 1944, due to air raid damages.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.fischer-tropsch.org/Bureau_of_Mines/info_circ/ic_7375/ic_7375.htm |title=Untitled Document |accessdate=2007-11-08 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20071108041008/http://www.fischer-tropsch.org/Bureau_of_Mines/info_circ/ic_7375/ic_7375.htm |archivedate=2007-11-08 }}</ref> Leuna covered {{convert|3|sqmi|km2}} of land with 250 buildings, including decoy buildings outside the main plant, and employed 35,000 workers, including 10,000 prisoners and [[Forced labour under German rule during World War II|forced labourers]].{{citation needed|date=January 2017}} The [[14th Flak Division]] responsible for protecting Leuna had 28,000 troops, 18,000 [[Reich Labour Service|RAD]] personnel, 6,000 male and 3,050 female auxiliaries, 900 Hungarian and Italian 'volunteers', 3,600 Russian [[Hiwi (volunteer)|Hiwis]], and 3,000 others, thus making up a total of 62,550 persons.<ref>{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rVVeO4B985wC&pg=PA321 |title = Germany and the Second World War: Volume VII: The Strategic Air War in Europe and the War in the West and East Asia, 1943-1944/5|isbn = 9780198228899|last1 = Boog|first1 = Horst|last2 = Krebs|first2 = Gerhard|last3 = Vogel|first3 = Detlef|year = 1990}}</ref> More than 19,000 of Leuna's workers were members of the air raid protection organization which operated over 600 [[88 mm gun|radar-directed guns]], while the fire-fighting force consisted of 5,000 men and women.{{citation needed|date=January 2017}}

A total of 6,552 bomber sorties over 20 [[Eighth Air Force|US Eighth Air Force]] and 2 [[RAF]] attacks dropped 18,328 tons of bombs on Leuna.<ref name=USSBS>{{cite web|last=D'Olier |first=Franklin |author2=Alexander |author3=Ball |author4=Bowman |author5=Galbraith |author6=Likert |author7=McNamee |author8=Nitze |author9=Russell |author10=Searls |author11=Wright |date=September 30, 1945 |title=The Attack on Oil |url=http://www.usaaf.net/surveys/eto |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040727153254/http://www.usaaf.net/surveys/eto/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 27, 2004 |accessdate=2009-02-10 |work=[[Strategic Bombing Survey (Europe)|The United States Strategic Bombing Survey Summary Report (European War)]] |publisher=[[Air University (United States Air Force)|Air University]] Press }}</ref> As the most heavily defended industrial target in Europe, Leuna would become so dark from flak, German smoke pots, and exploding oil tanks that "''we had no idea how close our bombs came to the target.''". On clear days, only 29% of the bombs aimed at Leuna landed inside the plant gates; on radar raids the number dropped to 5.1%. During the first raid of the [[Oil Campaign of World War II#Campaign strategy|Oil Plan]], 126 Leuna workers were killed. However, after defenses were increased, only 175 additional workers were killed in 21 subsequent raids. Leuna bombing from May 12, 1944 to April 5, 1945, cost the Eighth Air Force 1,280 airmen. In three separate attacks by the Eighth, 119 planes were lost and not one bomb fell on the Leuna works.<ref name=Miller>{{cite book |last=Miller |first=Donald L. |year=2006 |title=Masters of the Air: America's Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany |url=https://archive.org/details/mastersofair00dona |url-access=registration |location=New York |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=978-0-7432-3544-0 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/mastersofair00dona/page/314 314]–9}}</ref> The Eighth Air Force also dropped 12,953 tons of explosives on nearby [[Merseburg]].<!--ref name=Davis/> Bombing the European Axis Powers {{Rp|541}}-->

Following the oil price hikes of 1973/1974, and of 1979/1980, and the reduced supply from the Soviet Union, substantial investments were made in the oil processing industry. New, more sophisticated cracking plants were imported from the Federal Republic of Germany, from [[Japan]], [[Austria]], and [[Sweden]], and were operated with modern [[distributed control system]]s originating in the FRG and the [[United States]]. Thereby, the fraction of so-called "black products" such as [[bitumen]] and heavy [[fuel oil]] was reduced to almost zero in favour of the "white products" such as [[gasoline]], [[diesel fuel]], and light [[heating oil]]. Motor fuels produced in Leuna II were also exported outside the socialist bloc to bankroll the new plants and to earn hard currency. For instance, Leuna gasoline was sold in [[West Berlin]]. Even the heaviest residues from oil processing were used as raw material for the production of [[syngas]] in the new low-pressure [[methanol]] plant. This [[hydrogenation]]-based technology required a large amount of [[hydrogen]] and was not profitable.

[[Chancellor of Germany (Federal Republic of Germany)|Chancellor]] [[Helmut Kohl]] mediated the transfer of the Leuna oil refinery to French company [[Elf Aquitaine]] (who later became part of Total) in 1990/1991. Dubious transactions at that time led to the so-called Leuna affair and criminal proceedings against manager [[Alfred Sirven]]. In 1997, the new refinery MIDER (''Mitteldeutsche Erdoel-Raffinerie''), now TRM (''TotalTotalEnergies Raffinerie Mitteldeutschland'') started production after two and a half years of construction time. It represents the largest direct investment of a French company in the [[new states of Germany]] and was supported by an [[State aid (European Union)|EU state aid]] of 1400 million [[Deutsche Mark]], corresponding to 27% of the total investment.<ref>{{cite news | url = https://www.welt.de/print-welt/article500002/Leuna-das-lausige-Wunder.html | title = Leuna - das lausige Wunder | date = 31 January 2000 | author = Uwe Müller | language = de | newspaper = Die Welt}}</ref> With the construction of new plants in an area named ''Leuna III'', the industrial complex has expanded towards the village of [[Spergau]].

[[Category:Chemical companiesindustry ofin Germany]]