Was the main office in Frankfurt bombed, and if not, why not?

Oops. My bad. Could you move this to History club?

** Deleted by user - timing coincided with original poster asking for topic to be moved **

That is a good question. It does appear the main facility was not bombed. There were several different locations around Germany that were not bombed for one reason or another. Rumor has it some were left untouched because the facilities had a direct link to American companies and these companies requested the facilities not be bombed. This would hasten Germany’s growth after the war.

I guess you are asking this because of the production of Zyklon B. Bombing the production facility of this would have done little to halt its use during the Holocaust. I was just reading about the camps last week. Each gas chamber is said to have used 4 containers of pellets to create enough of the gaseous hydrogen cyanide. My numbers might be off depending on which source is considered accurate. It was claimed there was enough Zyklon B in Germany to last years even if the main plant was bombed.

There were also other companies that made the same chemical compound prior to and during the war. It was used in the United States for dusting immigrants, stating in the late 1920’s. It was continued to be used until the late 1930’s. The use in the concentration camps began initially for delousing to control typhus. The chemical used in the gas chambers was deliberately made without the warning odorant.

Plus if consider the allies claimed not to know what the pellets were being used for why bomb a factory that was not producing war material. This of course can be debated until we are blue in the face. The allies had recon photos of the concentration camps long before they were liberated.

I hope that makes some sense. In hindsight we all know what should have been done.

The I.G. Farben Building that is located in Frankfurt am Main was hit three times, once by a bomb and two artillery shells. One story has it that General Eisenhower wanted the building intact as it would be his HQ for the occupation of Germany. General Eisenhower did use the building as his HQ, and his old office was named the Eisenhower conference room after HQ V Corps moved in to take over the building. In 1974 the building was re-named the Abrams Building after the Army Chief of Staff, Creighton Abrams died of a heart attack earlier that year.

The bomb and artillery shells did little damage to the building and repairs were done just after the war ended in Europe. It was the largest office building in Europe until 1955. I worked in the I.G. Farben/Abrams Building from 1980-1992 and returned for a short time in 1994 (three months), then the HQ V Corps moved to Heidelberg later that year, bringing the use of the building by the USA to an end.

If you have any more questions, I will try to answer them.

Jim, I originally asked because it was my understanding that there was corporate pressure applied to spare the facility. I was aware of the Zyclon B surplus. Years ago a friend visited Dachau and brought back a lot of literature. The nazi's had more gas than train space. Duane. Exact specs. Thank you. How heavily was Frankfurt bombed, other than this facility?

Earl,
Frankfurt was bombed heavily during WWII. It was a transportation/rail center. There were some manufactoring areas outside of the city. One was the Opel truck factory in Russelheim where the Opel Blitz truck was assembled. The USA Army Air Force bombed that as well as the main rail center in downtown Frankfurt. The Briish RAF bombed the city several times with heavy raids. One in July 1944 burned down a wooden palace in a park next to the I.G. Farben building.

There are some photos I have seen of the city. One where the down town Messe (market place) that has the main catherdal beside it. This is on the Main River. Frankfurt was taken by USA ground forces in March, 1945.

Hope that helps.

Earl,
Recommend do a Google search of Frankfurt am Main in World War II to find out some of the bombing raids and there are some aerial photos of the city after the war.

Any more questions, please let me know.