Agfa Billy I automatic 6 x 9 cm format camera

Billy I self-erecting camera with bellows made by AGFA [Aktien-Gesellschaft für Anilin-Fabrikation] from 1930-1931. This was one of the first AGFA automatic box cameras with rollfilm, and the basis for a long-running series. The film manufacturing company began producing cameras under its own logo from the mid-1920’s, including the first Billy series model. In December 1925, AGFA merged with 5 German companies, including BASF, Bayer, and Hoechst, to form IG Farben, the largest chemical manufacturer in the world. In February 1933, IG Farben contributed 400,000 reichsmarks to the new Nazi government. Initially, the company resisted the antisemitic racial policies such as the Nuremberg Laws of 1935. But by 1937, all Jewish employees, board members, and executives had been removed, and the majority of the remaining board members joined the Nazi Party. IG Farben was an integral part of the war economy, often taking over chemical factories in regions taken over by Germany. They used over 35,000 forced and slave laborers in their factories, including one near Auschwitz III – Monowitz (Buna) concentration camp, and supplied the Zyklon B used in the gas chambers. After the war ended in May 1945, IG Farben was dismantled by the Allies. In 1947, the company’s top officials were tried by the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Thirteen of the 24 defendants were found guilty of at least one of the five counts.