Fritz Gajewski

Friedrich Gajewski (13 October 1885 – 2 December 1965) was a Nazi German businessman with IG Farben and Wehrwirtschaftsführer (war economy leader) during the Second World War. He was tried for war crimes for his role in the Holocaust and acquitted.

Early years One of twelve children, Gajewski only had limited schooling due to his family's lack of money but, following the completion of an apprenticeship as a pharmacist, he was able to enrol in the University of Leipzig in 1905 to study chemistry and pharmacy. He completed his doctorate in 1910 and served for a year in the military, as was mandatory at the time. He entered civilian employment in 1912 with BASF but returned to the German Imperial Army in 1914, serving in the First World War until 1917.

His role as a member of the company's South-East Europe Committee, a post he took up in 1940, made him a regular visitor to IG Farben sites that had been established in occupied and satellite territories such as Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and Romania. He retired in 1957 and ended his days in the Hahnwald suburb of Cologne.