3 ms·

they don't like to mention the role of Dehomag, their German subsidiary - but it is also part of their history. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_and_the_Holoc

they don't like to mention the role of Dehomag, their German subsidiary - but it is also part of their history. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_and_the_Holocaust https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_and_the_Holocaust https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dehomag https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dehomag

angiosperm 3y ago
IBM got back all the money Dehomag got in rent from the Nazis, and all the machines they rented. TJ Watson was personally awarded the Iron Cross by Hitler for his contribution to their efforts at a "final solution". He gave it back reluctantly after the US declared war.
- Nursie 3y ago
  AFAICT it was the " Order of the German Eagle", and he returned the medal in 1940, a year before the US declared war. It's still pretty shameful, but details are important too.
  - zabzonk 3y ago
    germany declared war on the us
    - hugg 3y ago
      yeah, germany declared war first, but the US also declared war on germany
- arp242 3y ago
  The Nazis didn't really start any "final solution" until late 1942/early 1943, and even then it wasn't all that widely known in the general population. Before that it was mostly about census data for segregation and such. To say that "Watson got the Iron Cross for his efforts at the final solution" is hugely misleading.
  - MichaelMoser123 3y ago
    This is not correct. The Wannsee conference took place in January 1942, concentration camps were actively killing during 1942. Before that there were the mobile killing units, the SS Einsatzgruppen that already systematically killed more than a million Jews in the occupied parts of the Soviet Union during 1941-1942.
hermitcrab 3y ago
Yes, that deeply shameful episode definitely shouldn't be left out of any retrospective of IBM's last 100 years. They clearly knew what the machines were being used for deeply malign ends, even if they didn't know the exact details of what was happening.

angiosperm 3y ago

IBM got back all the money Dehomag got in rent from the Nazis, and all the machines they rented. TJ Watson was personally awarded the Iron Cross by Hitler for his contribution to their efforts at a "final solution". He gave it back reluctantly after the US declared war.

Nursie 3y ago
AFAICT it was the " Order of the German Eagle", and he returned the medal in 1940, a year before the US declared war. It's still pretty shameful, but details are important too.
- zabzonk 3y ago
  germany declared war on the us
  - hugg 3y ago
    yeah, germany declared war first, but the US also declared war on germany
arp242 3y ago
The Nazis didn't really start any "final solution" until late 1942/early 1943, and even then it wasn't all that widely known in the general population. Before that it was mostly about census data for segregation and such. To say that "Watson got the Iron Cross for his efforts at the final solution" is hugely misleading.
- MichaelMoser123 3y ago
  This is not correct. The Wannsee conference took place in January 1942, concentration camps were actively killing during 1942. Before that there were the mobile killing units, the SS Einsatzgruppen that already systematically killed more than a million Jews in the occupied parts of the Soviet Union during 1941-1942.

hermitcrab 3y ago

Yes, that deeply shameful episode definitely shouldn't be left out of any retrospective of IBM's last 100 years. They clearly knew what the machines were being used for deeply malign ends, even if they didn't know the exact details of what was happening.