IBM and the Nazi's

I mentioned in a previous blog my disdain for corporations. One of my many reasons for doing so is the fact that they have no soul. They are not the sole property (and responsibility?) of any one man or woman, but they are legally their own entity, and thus, the people who work in these companies dont feel any personal, moral responsibility. They are merely following orders.

This is a very old story, but one that can never be told enough. Another example... maybe the most horrid example of a company turning a blind eye to morality in the face of profitability. And that is the relation between Nazi Germany and [US corporation] IBM, starting in the mid 1930's... and the culpability that IBM has in the war crimes of the Nazi regime.

IBM president Thomas Watson started a partnership with Germany soon after Adolf Hitler took office in 1933. Germany soon became IBM's second largest customer (behind the United States) which is important to note, because, when we think of what IBM could have done, it will be weighed against all the money that they knew they could have stood to lose. Anyone can turn away their 2nd smallest customer if he or she is too controversial, but 2nd largest?

But what was IBM selling to Germany?

Punch cards

Wait... whats so bad about punch cards... you just use that to tally stuff... or... oh... oh... OH, ooooooooooooh... wow!

Above is an example of a punch card machine. Before computers, if you were trying to tally information, this was the fastest way to do it. Hypothetically... ya know... if you were trying to tally... er... um... Jews(?)... then, this would be one efficient way to do it. Who's Jewish? Who's Jehovah's Witness. Who's 25% Jewish? Who's 50%? Who's gay. Even the homosexuals had a slot on the punch cards. There can be no homosexuals in the great Aryan state, after all.

Some debate (to exonerate IBM?) how much more efficient, if at all, using this technology is over just using pen and paper, or some other system. That is to say... if you have a great system, and you have determined, dedicated men carrying out your orders, such as some hardcore SS sociopath or a member of the Gestapo... it'll be efficient no matter what "technology" you use to run it.

To be honest, I find the question somewhat irrelovent. The question with me is simply...

"Was your technology used for _____? and were you aware of it?"

Anyone who would argue his machine didn't really increase the number of dead Jews is missing the point, in my opinion. Worst case, you profited off of maintaining the numbers?

This book, by Edwin Black, argues...

"Custom-designed, IBM-produced punch cards, sorted by IBM machines leased to the Nazis, helped organize and manage the initial identification and social expulsion of Jews and others, the confiscation of their property, their ghettoization, their deportation, and, ultimately, even their extermination."

There was a Polish subsidiary for IBM created which reported directly to IBM officials on Madison Ave. They were to keep a tight hold over selling technology to the Nazi's in Poland and helped organize things such as the efficiency of the trains running from Poland to places like Auschwitz.

IBM's German subsidiary was Deutsche Hollerith Maschinen Gesellschaft, known by the acronym Dehomag. Hollerith was the German American who first automated US census information and founded the IBM. His name became synonymous with the punch card machines and there were "Hollerith machines" found at every concentration camp when they were finally liberated.

But could (then) current IBM president Thomas Watson feign ignorance? He went to Germany at least twice annually from the years 1933 to 1939, personally supervising Dehomag.

The machines were not sold, only leased. IBM would be the sole source of the punch cards and any spare parts needed to for the machines. It services the machines directly or through some authorized dealer.

There were no standard type of punch cards. Each series custom designed based on what the Nazi's (in that area) wanted to be tabulated, and what info they wanted coming out.

What was going on in Poland could not have been a secret to IBM executives. Worldwide news headlines were quite clear about the devastation and the New York Times ran a headline that said

"Nazis Hint Purge of Jews in Poland"

Yet, IBM kept making money. IBM President Watson would even recieve a medal from Adolf Hitler (which he would LATER give back). This isn't the whole story. Far from it. Just the beginning. I know when I first heard this story a few years ago, it sounded waaaaaaaaay too insane to be true. IBM and Nazi's? Come on...

But it happens... usually no where as extreme as this... but it happens... more than we know...