Fritz ter Meer

Friedrich (Fritz) Hermann ter Meer (4 July 1884 – 27 October 1967) was a German chemist, Bayer board chairman, Nazi Party member and war criminal.

From 1925 to 1945 Fritz ter Meer was on the board of IG Farben AG. He was involved in the planning of Monowitz concentration camp, a satellite camp of KZ Auschwitz. Fritz ter Meer was sentenced to seven years in prison in the Nuremberg Trials in 1948 for "mass murder and enslavement".

Early life Fritz ter Meer was the son of Edmund ter Meer (1852–1931), who founded the chemical company Teerfarbenfabrik Dr. E. ter Meer & Cie in Uerdingen, which in 1925 became part of IG Farben. His family tree can be traced back to the 15th Century.

After completing his schooling in 1903, ter Meer studied chemistry and law in France and Germany until 1908. His thesis on the ether Isonitrosoketonen won him a doctorate in Berlin in 1909. He went on to study dye chemistry in Krefeld, France and England.

Career Thereafter, he worked in the family-owned company Dr. E. ter Meer & Co., where he held senior positions and in 1919 became a member of the Board. After the merger he worked for IG Farben until 1945. Meer was responsible for running negotiations between IG Farben and Standard Oil.

From 1925 to 1945 Fritz ter Meer was on the board of IG Farben AG. He was also from 1932 a member of the Working Committee and the Technical Committee, Head of Division II in the War Ministry and the defense industry.

Nazi support during World War II In May 1937, he joined the Nazi Party (NSDAP). In 1946 Meer began writing company memos that tried to hide IG Farben's service to the Nazi party and the Hitler administration. Planning, preparation, initiation, and waging of wars of aggression and invasions of other countries

Bayer chairmanship and later life He was released early in the summer of 1950 because of "good behaviour" from Landsberg Prison. In 1956 Meer became Chairman of the board for IG Farben spinoff, Bayer AG. He held the position of supervisory board chairman until 1964. In subsequent years, he also took on board positions at a number of other companies, including, among others, Theodor Goldschmidt, Commerzbank, Association of German Banks, Duewag, VIAG and Union Bank AG, West Germany.

He retired in 1961.

In his memory, his employer set up the Fritz-ter-Meer-Stiftung, now called the Bayer Science & Education Foundation, which promotes chemistry students through scholarships.