15 Jun
2011
15 Jun
'11
12:38 a.m.
IBM started out as a German company. There was a book
put out after
> research done by Edwin Black showing IBM was part of the Nazi war
> apparatus, since they needed information processing capabilities to
> identify "enemies of the state" and round them up for execution.
Excuse me? I'd always been given to believe that
CTR was formed from a
merger of various operations, including meat processing, scales, time
clocks and punched card equipment and subsequently renamed IBM.
Yeah, keep reading. CTR bought out Deutsche Hollerith Maschinen Groupe
(Dehomag) in 1923 and in 1924 they became IBM. The Hollerith machines are
what made IBM all those millions/billions after that and during the war
years. Without the Hollerith machine IBM would have been JATC (Just Another
Timecard Company).
I recall from first seeing mention in the IEEE Annals
of Computing (I
still have the issue) that the Reich Rassenamt made extensive use of
Hollerith card equipment from IBM's German subsidiary, Dehomag (Deutsche
Hollerith-Maschinen GmbH). While correspondence shows that the chairman
of Dehomag was a deplorable sycophant; it's not clear to me that T.J.
Watson Sr. was interested in anything except the Reich's money.
So what? How does that take away from the author's research or position,
that seems to be supported by all the historians? IBM did make money off the
machines and programs used to kill 15 or 20 million people. Is that ok, as
long as it was just for the money? Is that what you meant, or did I
misunderstand you?
And Watson didn't mind receiving a medal of honor from the 3rd Reich. All
that stuff is beyond dispute. Yes, later he gave it back. But at the time
he accepted it.
Somehow, the poster seems to be in the same vein of
some of the of
materials pitched to various Federal agencies today. The wiretapping,
data-mining, profiling, etc. capabilities of today would have seemed like
a fantastic dream to an SS boss.
No doubt!
Anyway like I said I haven't looked into it much (except just now after the
2 responses) but the documentation about the major facts- the acquisition of
Dehomag, IBM's admission in 2001 that their machines were extensively used
by the Nazis, etc. are all easily found online.
I didn't write the book, but like I said I have seen some reviews including
one that Harvard University put out, and nobody seems to be arguing with
what Black has written. My post is to answer Zane, not to debate stuff I'm
not equipped to debate about, I'm not a historian or history buff and I
don't sell books. But if you want to argue with what the book says I would
say first read it and then check what the academics have said about it
before you start writing your own papers on the topic ;-) Because I think
Black has his sources lined up and I'm quite sure you and I dont.