3 ms·

Being trans myself, I'd think that Conway's firing (in the late 60s, nearly 25 years after the end of the war) has more to do with American attitudes than Germa

Being trans myself, I'd think that Conway's firing (in the late 60s, nearly 25 years after the end of the war) has more to do with American attitudes than German ones.

ncmncm 6y ago
Nobody suggested Germans fired her. It has everything to do with attitudes of IBM management, which eagerly participated in the Holocaust, and manifestly continued sympathy beyond two decades after the war ended.
- arpa 6y ago
  You could be transphobic without being a nazi, even though it probably helps. I believe most of the world at the time was *phobic.
  - krapp 6y ago
    Gay prisoners liberated from the concentration camps (they were marked with a pink triangle) were sent back to prison for the crime of homosexuality. And the Allies were little better - Alan Turing was convicted of homosexuality, chemically castrated and stripped of his security clearance and eventually committed suicide. Those attitudes were absolutely the norm at the time. As was anti-semitism, which while not as virulent as in Germany, was not at all uncommon in the West at the time, particularly among American business leaders. IBM wasn't as much of an anomaly as people want to believe.
    - ncmncm 6y ago
      Still, not too many other American business leaders were personally awarded a custom-designed Iron Cross by Hitler himself. So there's that.
rasz 6y ago
You might of missed a small fact, it was Thomas J. Watson, Jr. who fired Conway. As in the son of Thomas J. Watson the recipient of the Nazi medal. [IBM Apologizes for Firing Computer Pioneer for Being Transgender 52 Years Later] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25146271 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25146271 Picture of daddy chilling with Hitler https://www.computerhistory.org/revolution/punched-cards/2/15/109 https://www.computerhistory.org/revolution/punched-cards/2/1...

3 ms·

Being trans myself, I'd think that Conway's firing (in the late 60s, nearly 25 years after the end of the war) has more to do with American attitudes than Germa

by shadowofneptune 6y ago

Being trans myself, I'd think that Conway's firing (in the late 60s, nearly 25 years after the end of the war) has more to do with American attitudes than German ones.

ncmncm 6y ago
Nobody suggested Germans fired her. It has everything to do with attitudes of IBM management, which eagerly participated in the Holocaust, and manifestly continued sympathy beyond two decades after the war ended.
- arpa 6y ago
  You could be transphobic without being a nazi, even though it probably helps. I believe most of the world at the time was *phobic.
  - krapp 6y ago
    Gay prisoners liberated from the concentration camps (they were marked with a pink triangle) were sent back to prison for the crime of homosexuality. And the Allies were little better - Alan Turing was convicted of homosexuality, chemically castrated and stripped of his security clearance and eventually committed suicide. Those attitudes were absolutely the norm at the time. As was anti-semitism, which while not as virulent as in Germany, was not at all uncommon in the West at the time, particularly among American business leaders. IBM wasn't as much of an anomaly as people want to believe.
    - ncmncm 6y ago
      Still, not too many other American business leaders were personally awarded a custom-designed Iron Cross by Hitler himself. So there's that.
rasz 6y ago
You might of missed a small fact, it was Thomas J. Watson, Jr. who fired Conway. As in the son of Thomas J. Watson the recipient of the Nazi medal. [IBM Apologizes for Firing Computer Pioneer for Being Transgender 52 Years Later] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25146271 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25146271 Picture of daddy chilling with Hitler https://www.computerhistory.org/revolution/punched-cards/2/15/109 https://www.computerhistory.org/revolution/punched-cards/2/1...