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This isn't strictly relevant, but I'm curious about possible bias in that article. The line: His work on the pocket calculator stopped in 1938 when the
by Cushman 15y ago
This isn't strictly relevant, but I'm curious about possible bias in that article. The line:
His work on the pocket calculator stopped in 1938 when
the Nazis forced him and his company to concentrate on
manufacturing measuring instruments and distance gauges for the German army.
My gut says if this were an American or British company, the line would read "hired him and his company to make whatever else instead," but I'm willing to believe there could be a difference in the consequences to a business owner who refused to support the war effort. Anyone have any insights on this?
- jmount 15y agoHe was put in a concentration camp.
- Cushman 15y agoSo he was. Goodness.
- scarmig 15y agoYou're probably right in a sense; it's unlikely the SS came in and told him to change what he was doing or die. Or that the person in the army who approached him made any threats on his life. At the same time, when a representative of an arbitrary, totalitarian government dedicated to the eradication of your genes comes a knocking, any requests from them have to be read as essentially forced.
- Cushman 15y agoYeah, looking back I think I was being much too charitable... Although I can only imagine the experience of a Japanese-American business owner being quite similar. But we don't talk about that here.