Otto Ambros

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Otto Ambros (1901–1990) was a German chemist who became a key figure in the Nazi war economy. He helped develop synthetic rubber and worked on nerve agents during World War II.

Born in Weiden in der Oberpfalz, Ambros studied chemistry at the University of Munich, earning his PhD in 1925 under Nobel laureate Richard Willstätter. He began his career at BASF in 1926 and later moved to IG Farben, where he led the Schkopau plant and managed the Buna Werke and other chemical projects. He joined the Nazi Party in 1938.

Ambros and IG Farben developed Buna rubber because Germany lacked natural rubber during the war. He oversaw production at plants that used slave labor from the Auschwitz complex, including a large camp at Monowitz. Monowitz housed thousands of prisoners, most of them Jewish, who were forced to work under brutal conditions.

Ambros also helped develop chemical weapons, including the nerve agents sarin (1938) and tabun (1944). He received recognition from the Nazi regime for his work.

In 1946 he was arrested by the American army and, at the Nuremberg IG Farben trial in 1948, he was convicted of slave-labor crimes and sentenced to eight years in prison. He was released early in 1951 for good behavior.

After his release, Ambros worked as an adviser to chemical companies and the U.S. Army Chemical Corps, and he advised Konrad Adenauer. He also advised Chemie Grünenthal, the company connected with the development of thalidomide.

Otto Ambros died on July 23, 1990, in Mannheim, West Germany.