Stock Photo - Hermann Wirtz, managing partner of pharmaceutical company Grünenthal, was one of the defendants of the Contergan trial which began on 29 May 1968 in Alsdorf, Germany. The case against Wirtz was later separated from the main trial due to his health problem induced limited ability to stand trial. The trial against seven high ranking employees of the Stollberg-based Grünenthal company, makers of the drug Contergan, began on 27 May 1968 in the miner's canteen ""Anna"" in Alsdorf near Aachen, Germany. The seven employees were charged with involuntary manslaughter, involuntary assault and the violation of German pharmaceutical laws. In the late 1950s and 60s about 8,000 to 12,000 children were born with serious deformities, many died, due to the use of the sleeping drug Contergan by their mothers during pregnancy. Drugs containing thalidomide, Contergan among them, were distributed starting 1 October 1957 by Stollberg (located near Aachen, Germany) based pharmaceuticals company Grünenthal without proper testing and without barring the drug's use during pregnancy. Reports of serious damages to people's health were ignored until a newspaper article in November 1961 forced the company to stop all sales and withdraw all products containing thalidomide. The trial ended without a verdict on 18 December 1970. The Grünenthal company agreed voluntarily to a payment of 114 million Deutschmarks compensation to the victims. - /Nordrhein-Westfalen/Germany