 The two were later married and had three children.Despite his extensive qualifications Ilgner found work hard to get in depressed post-war Germany, and so he called on his uncle Hermann Schmitz, the financial chief at BASF, who secured for Ilgner a position as a salesman at the chemical company.In 1926, having worked for BASF for two years, Ilgner was given a new role working with Schmitz at a newly established central finance unit for IG Farben on Berlin's Unter den Linden.