Mann joined the
Nazi Party in 1931, two years before they came to power, and also joined the
Sturmabteilung, achieving the rank of Sturmführer in the Brownshirts.[1] At the
time of his initial membership Mann was the only member of the Vorstand to hold a Nazi Party card.[ Mann's membership
had lapsed after a year although he quickly renewed his subscription as soon as
Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany.Following the Nazi seizure of power
Mann penned a letter which he sent out to 75 of IG Farben's leading
international sales representatives across the world. In the letter Mann told
the executives that the Nazis had "won a victory against Bolshevism, the
enemy of the entire world" and instructed them to tell their clients in
their host countries that stories circulating about Nazi repression contained
"not a true word". Mann was arrested by the U.S. Army in 1945 and two
years later was indicted as part of the IG Farben trial. There he faced the
charges of plundering, spoliation and mass murder, but he was acquitted in
1948.The following year he returned to his earlier role of head of
pharmaceutical sales at Bayer.He also returned to market research company GfK,
of which he had been president from 1935 to 1945, continuing in this role until
1955, whilst also holding a role on the Foreign Trade Committee of the
Bundesverband der Deutschen Industrie.
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