Evonik Industries
stock-listed German speciality chemicals company
Evonik Industries AG is a publicly listed German chemicals company headquartered in Essen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is the second-largest chemicals company in Germany, and one of the largest specialty chemicals companies in the world. It is predominantly owned by the RAG Foundation and was founded on 12 September 2007 as a result of restructuring of the mining and technology group RAG AG.
Evonik Industries united the business areas of chemicals, energy and real estate of RAG, while mining operations continue to be carried out by RAG. Since then, the energy and real estate business areas have been divested, with no share being held in the former and a minority share still being held in the latter. Its specialty chemicals business generates around 80% of sales in areas where it holds leading market positions. Evonik Industries employs about 31,000 people and carries out activities in more than 100 countries. The operating activities are organized into six business units that are a part of the chemicals business area. Up until 2025 Evonik was a main sponsor of the German football club Borussia Dortmund and now is Champion Partner.
In 2022, Evonik's surfactant and specialty esters operations were acquired by Kensing.
History
World War II and involvement in the Holocaust
During World War II, one of Degussa's (Deutsche Gold- und Silber-Scheide-Anstalt, "German Gold and Silver Refining") subsidiaries, Degesch (translation: German Corporation for Pest Control), was the main manufacturer and distributor of the chemical Zyklon B, which was used to murder people in gas chambers of German extermination and concentration camps during the Holocaust. Gold dental fillings, which had been forcefully removed from the mouths of concentration-camp inmates, were processed by Degussa.
The public source identifies “Evonik Industries” as stock-listed German speciality chemicals company. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Evonik, Industries and stock-listed.
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The record creator and administrative purpose are central evidence, because official documentation reflects both action and institutional priorities. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 5, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q473513. VIAF identifies the subject as 151766730. The Library of Congress control number is no2015158624. 2 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2007, 2025 and 2022.
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This entry incorporates text from “Evonik Industries” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.