Buna Werke Schkopau

Buna Werke Schkopau were a chemical company specialising in the production of polymer materials such as plastics and artificial rubber.

During World War II, a branch of Buna-Werke was built near Auschwitz, which employed forced labourers and inmates of Monowitz concentration camp.

Both plants also used large numbers of slave labourers for which several members of the IG Farben company were prosecuted at Nuremberg after the war.

The new town of Halle-Neustadt was built specifically for the workers of the chemical plants in Schkopau and Leuna, and suburban railway lines provided transportation for commuters.

After the political changes in the GDR in 1989, Buna Werke were initially administered by Treuhandanstalt (later Bundesanstalt für vereinigungsbedingte Sonderaufgaben (BVS), a privatisation agency.