IBM and the Holocaust

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

IBM and the Holocaust: The entanglement of the global corporation in the crimes of the Nazis ( English original title: IBM and the Holocaust: The Strategic Alliance between Nazi Germany and America's Most Powerful Corporation ) is a book by the investigative journalist Edwin Black , which was first published in 2001.

Black describes in detail the business relations of the US corporation IBM and its German and European subsidiaries with the German government of Adolf Hitler during the 1930s and the time of the Second World War . A key message of the book is Black's thesis that IBM's technology is genocide made possible, above all by the production and tabulation of punched cards on the basis of data from the census .

The new edition from 2012 offered an edition extended by 37 pages of previously unpublished documents. There were also photos and other archive material.

content

In the early 1880s, Herman Hollerith (1860–1929), a young employee of the US Census Bureau , conceived the principle of legible cards with standardized holes, with each hole corresponding to specific information about a person such as gender, nationality and occupation. The millions of punch cards from the census were then evaluated. In 1910 the German licensee Willy Heidinger founded the Deutsche Hollerith Maschinen Gesellschaft, known under its acronym DEHOMAG . A year later Hollerith sold his company to the industrialist Charles Flint (1850-1934) for $ 1.41 million (equivalent to $ 34 million in 2012). The company became part of a conglomerate called Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company (CTR). Flint made Thomas J. Watson (1874-1956), the star salesman of the National Cash Register Corporation , the new company's director. DEHOMAG later became a direct subsidiary of CTR. In 1924 Watson became Chief Executive Officer of CTR and changed the name to International Business Machines (IBM).

Punch card punch with keyboard 1933

Black describes in detail the previous dealings with the Adolf Hitler government and the NSDAP with IBM. After Hitler came to power in January 1933, a concentration camp for political prisoners was set up in Dachau on March 20 . Despite international calls for a boycott, business relations were not interrupted. Willy Heidinger, an enthusiastic supporter of the regime, continued to head Dehomag, which was 90% American-owned. Heidinger, who was independent until 1922, had ceded 90 percent of the shares to IBM as compensation under pressure from Watson, as he could no longer pay the license fees due to inflation in Germany.

On April 12, 1933, a long postponed census was announced. This was of particular importance to the National Socialist leadership for the identification of Jews, Sinti and Roma and other ethnic groups who appeared “undesirable”. DEHOMAG offered its services, focusing on the 41 million inhabitants of Prussia . This was not only approved of by Thomas Watson and IBM in America, but, as Black claims, actively promoted and financially supported. Watson himself traveled to Germany in October 1933. Investments were increased from 400,000 to 7,000,000 Reichsmarks , which was roughly equivalent to the then value of one million dollars. This capital injection enabled DEHOMAG to acquire land in Berlin and build the first IBM factory in Germany. With this equipment, the company was preparing for big business with the new regime, Black said.

Black also mentions a "secret contract" between Heidinger and Watson, which gave DEHOMAG special business powers outside of Germany, with which the now "nazified" company could " circumvent and supplant " ( circumvent and supplant ) subsidiaries and licensees in these countries Delivery of punch card technology solutions directly to customers in these countries. As a result, Germany had quickly become IBM's second most important customer outside of the US market.

The 1933 census, conducted through its German subsidiary with the help and services of IBM, proved to be an essential tool for identifying, isolating and ultimately exterminating the Jewish minority. The estimated number of Jews has been revised upwards significantly, as people with only one or more Jewish ancestors are now recorded. So the original estimate of 400,000 to 600,000 Jews was abandoned and a new estimate of 2 million accepted.

With the occupation of Europe, counts were made in the conquered countries. Here, too, the German IBM branch and, after the conquest of Poland, new Polish subsidiaries, which were assigned special tasks from New York, played an important role. The data collection and analysis machines supplied by IBM were essential for the collection, amalgamation and extermination of European Jews, Black points out.

Black claims that each concentration camp had its own Hollerith section to collect data from prisoners. Black claims that without IBM equipment, its maintenance and repair and the replenishment of maps, Hitler's camps would not have been able to handle the huge crowds.

Response from IBM

IBM has never questioned the historical evidence of Black's research as such, but mainly criticized the methodology and conclusions. IBM claimed it had no other documents as most were destroyed or lost during the war.

In its "IBM Statement on Nazi-era Book and Lawsuit", IBM responded to Black's account in February 2001 that it had been known for decades that Nazis had used Hollerith equipment and that IBM's German subsidiary had supplied Hollerith equipment during the 1930s . Like many other companies, DEHOMAG came under German control. It is also widely known that Thomas J. Watson, Sr. accepted the German government medal for his role in world economic relations and subsequently rejected it and returned it.

On March 29, 2002, IBM denied Black's claim that IBM withheld information and records:

“Mr. Black is asserting that IBM is withholding materials regarding this era in its archives. There is no basis for such assertions and we deplore the use of such claims to sell books. "

"Mr. Black claims that IBM was holding materials in its archives at this time. These allegations are baseless and we disapprove of the use of such allegations to sell books. "

However, IBM later gave a significant portion of its company records to scientific archives in New York and Stuttgart for independent researchers to examine.

In an article on the George Mason University history news network, Edwin Black accused IBM lawyers of censoring Wikipedia articles on the history of IBM.

reception

Newsweek called the book explosive and added that, through extensive research, Black's case history was as simple as it was breathtaking. In 2003, the American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA) named Black's work IBM and the Holocaust as the best non-fiction book of the year.

Richard Bernstein's review in The New York Times Book Review highlighted Black's elaborate and well-documented account, but noted that he did not prove that IBM had sole or ultimate responsibility for what happened.

IBM referred to this statement by Bernstein when it issued a press release in March 2002 as an addition to the IBM statement about the book from the Nazi era and the legal dispute that went with it.

Legal proceedings

In February 2001, a lawsuit was filed against IBM under the Alien Tort Claims Act (ATCA). It was submitted to the Federal Supreme Court that IBM had provided the punched card technology that had facilitated the Holocaust, and that it had also covered DEHOMAG's activities. In April 2001 the proceedings were dropped. Lawyers said they feared the continuation of the trial would slow down payments to a Holocaust foundation intended to compensate forced laborers and other victims of persecution. IBM's German department paid $ 3 million into this foundation, the company declaring that it was not expressing an admission of guilt.

In 2004, the human rights organization of the Sinti and Roma, Gypsy International Recognition and Compensation Action (GIRCA), sued IBM in Switzerland . In 2006 the proceedings were discontinued due to statute of limitations and lack of jurisdiction, as Switzerland did not have an IBM branch at the time of the events.

expenditure

  • IBM and the Holocaust. The Strategic Alliance between Nazi Germany and America's Most Powerful Corporation. Crown Books, 2001, ISBN 0-609-60799-5 .
  • IBM and the Holocaust. The Strategic Alliance Between Nazi Germany and America's Most Powerful Corporation. Dialog Press, 2012, ISBN 978-0-914153-27-6 .
  • IBM and the Holocaust. The global corporation's involvement in the crimes of the Nazis. Propylaen Verlag, Munich et al 2001, ISBN 3-549-07130-2 .
  • IBM and the Holocaust. The global corporation's involvement in the crimes of the Nazis. Ullstein-Taschenbuchverlag, 2002, ISBN 3-548-75087-7 .
see also
  • Götz Aly and Karl-Heinz Roth: Complete coverage. Counting, identifying, sorting out in National Socialism . Berlin 1984.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Peter Preston: Observer review: IBM and the Holocaust by Edwin Black. In: theguardian.com. February 18, 2001, accessed January 1, 2017 .
  2. ^ Black: IBM and the Holocaust. Second paperback edition, p. 25.
  3. ^ Black: IBM and the Holocaust. Second paperback edition, p. 30.
  4. ^ A b Black: IBM and the Holocaust. Second paperback edition, p. 31.
  5. ^ Black: IBM and the Holocaust. Second paperback edition, pp. 38–39.
  6. ^ Black: IBM and the Holocaust. Second paperback edition, p. 44.
  7. ^ Black: IBM and the Holocaust. Second paperback edition, p. 45.
  8. ^ Black: IBM and the Holocaust. Second paperback edition, p. 50.
  9. ^ Christian Habbe: IBM: The programmed mass murder. In: Spiegel Online . February 12, 2001, accessed January 1, 2017 .
  10. ↑ English first edition, p. 49f.
  11. ^ Black: IBM and the Holocaust. Second paperback edition, p. 54.
  12. ^ Black: IBM and the Holocaust. Second paperback edition, p. 55.
  13. ^ A b Black: IBM and the Holocaust. Second paperback edition, p. 60.
  14. ^ Black: IBM and the Holocaust. Second paperback edition, p. 61.
  15. ^ Black: IBM and the Holocaust. Second paperback edition, p. 111.
  16. ^ Black: IBM and the Holocaust. Second paperback edition, p. 110.
  17. ^ Black: IBM and the Holocaust. Second paperback edition, p. 193.
  18. ^ Black: IBM and the Holocaust. Second paperback edition, p. 198.
  19. ^ Black: IBM and the Holocaust. Second paperback edition, p. 351.
  20. ^ Black: IBM and the Holocaust. Second paperback edition, p. 352.
  21. ↑ Michael J. Bazyler, Holocaust Justice: The Battle for Restitution in America's Courts.
  22. ^ IBM Press Room: IBM Statement on Nazi-era Book and Lawsuit. In: Press Release. February 14, 2001, accessed January 2, 2017 .
  23. ↑ IBM Statement on Nazi-era Book and Lawsuit. 03.ibm.com, February 14, 2001, accessed June 16, 2011 .
  24. ↑ a b Addendum to IBM Statement on Nazi-era Book and Lawsuit. In: www-03.ibm.com. March 29, 2002, accessed January 1, 2017 .
  25. ↑ IBM Statement on Nazi-era Book and Lawsuit. In: www-03.ibm.com. February 14, 2001, accessed January 1, 2017 .
  26. ^ A b Francie Grace: IBM And Nazi Germany. In: cbsnews.com. March 27, 2002, accessed January 1, 2017 .
  27. ↑ 2003 ASJA Writing Awards Recipients. In: asja.org. Retrieved January 1, 2017 .
  28. ^ Richard Bernstein: BOOKS OF THE TIMES; IBM's Sales to the Nazis: Assessing the Culpability. In: nytimes.com. March 7, 2001, accessed January 1, 2017 .
  29. ↑ Anita Ramasastry: A Swiss court allows Gypsies' Holocaust lawsuit to proceed. In: cnn.com. July 8, 2004, accessed January 1, 2017 .
  30. ↑ Swiss high court rejects Gypsy Holocaust suit versus IBM, cites time limit. In: smh.com.au. August 19, 2006, accessed January 1, 2017 .