<nettime> IBM and the Holocaust

[Jonathan Prince <jonathan@killyourtv.com>]

IBM and the Holocaust

http://www.sunday-times.co.uk/news/pages/sti/2001/02/11/stirevnws02017.html

''..in 1993, I went with my parents to the new Holocaust museum in
Washington. There, in the very first exhibit, was a gleaming black,
beige and silver machine. The label said it was an IBM Hollerith D-11
card-sorting machine.

What was this thing - with its circuits, slots and wires - doing in
the dimly lit museum? What did IBM, one of America's most powerful
corporations, have to do with Hitler's attempt to exterminate
European Jewry?

A notice explained that IBM organised a census in 1933 that first
identified Germany's Jews. I stared at the machine and promised my
mother and father that I would discover more.

[....]

IBM has amassed its fortune and reputation because it generally
anticipates governmental and corporate needs before they develop and
then offers, designs and delivers customised solutions. It has always
billed itself as a "solutions" company. How many solutions did IBM
provide to Nazi Germany? ''
-- 

..
Jonathan Prince
jonathan@killyourtv.com
http://KillYourTV.com  - it's bad for you
http://GWBushSucks.com - he's bad for everyone
http://USoutofColombia.org - stupid wars are bad
........................................................
'When I was coming up, it was a dangerous world, and you
knew exactly who they were. It was us versus them, and
it was clear who them was. Today, we are not so sure who
the they are, but we know they're there.' - GW Bush

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