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cpalisa's review against another edition
3.0
This book was pretty good...I'd give it 3.5 stars if I could. Pretty troubling story, honestly. IBM doesn't look good by a mile and I was surprised I'd never heard of this link before. The book was laid out well and sources appeared to be pretty well traced and heavily documented. I did think the author was a bit repetitive in a lot of spots and could have cut the book down a bit but it was a compelling read.
tylercritchfield's review against another edition
3.0
A sobering and interesting look into the inner workings of the Nazi data collection operation and its relationship with IBM. At times it got dry and I sort of had to slog through details of tax evasion laws and international business correspondence. But overall I enjoyed reading it.
Interestingly, the author does not try to suggest a specific response we should have with regards to IBM, as this happened decades ago. I more got the impression that the author, the son of Polish Jewish refugees, wanted to set the record straight and let people decide for themselves how to react to it.
Interestingly, the author does not try to suggest a specific response we should have with regards to IBM, as this happened decades ago. I more got the impression that the author, the son of Polish Jewish refugees, wanted to set the record straight and let people decide for themselves how to react to it.
mark_lm's review against another edition
4.0
Thomas Watson, as the CEO of IBM, and the majority shareholder of IBM’s German subsidiary Dehomag, paid little or no attention to the plight of Germany’s Jews and accepted the Merit Cross of the German Eagle with Star from Hitler himself in 1937. The award was for the company’s work in supplying Germany with IBM punch card reading machines - the computers of the day. The machines were used throughout the German government, including the Reichsbahn, the Luftwaffe, the Wehrmacht, the concentration camps themselves, and for a series of German racial censuses designed mostly to identify converted, non-observant or distant relatives of German Jews. In some camps, the punch card data included forms of torture used. The author and his researchers found letters, public statements and published articles indicating that Dehomag and IBM were completely aware of the uses of their machines. In fact, Watson strove to acquire and expand these contracts, and IBM made huge profits from them. He had to go through many convoluted legal paths to get his money out of Germany, convince the Nazis that Dehomag was not an American company and that his profits were royalties and not subject to taxation. IBM’s profits increased dramatically with the invasion of Germany’s neighbors. IBM assisted the Nazi war effort and the efficient operation of the Holocaust right up to December 7, 1941, after that date, Dehomag was run partly by the German government. IBM continued to operate in occupied Europe through their Geneva office until they were, country by country, legally prohibited from doing so. IBM concealed as much of this information as they could, and hypocritically advertised about how patriotic they were during the war.
Is any of this a surprise? I’d heard about this book, but the totality of the story is shocking.
I now recoil when I hear what new use IBM has selected for their Jeopardy-winning supercomputer “Watson”. I suppose they’ve removed the swastika from it. There were other well-known Americans who either did or would have accepted medals from Hitler. After all, should we be more reluctant to buy a car that was designed (supposedly) by Hitler himself and made by slaves, or from the American company that advised them how to do it (https://mondediplo.com/1998/01/11volkswag)? The failure or inability of businesses and governments to respond to genocide is clear, both in history and in today’s newspaper. What have the governments of the developed world done for the Rohingya -- and what can they do?
Sadly, for the reader of this book, the substance of the story is laid out in the introduction. Reading the rest can be a slog. And personally, I wanted to know exactly how these machines worked. There are occasional technical paragraphs, the instruments could add, or sort, or alphabetize, but this book needs an appendix with diagrams and clear technical explanations. I thought that the machines themselves were an important part of the story.
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I read a used hardbound copy of this book. I’ve heard that the paperback version is a second edition that has additional information and corrections
Is any of this a surprise? I’d heard about this book, but the totality of the story is shocking.
I now recoil when I hear what new use IBM has selected for their Jeopardy-winning supercomputer “Watson”. I suppose they’ve removed the swastika from it. There were other well-known Americans who either did or would have accepted medals from Hitler. After all, should we be more reluctant to buy a car that was designed (supposedly) by Hitler himself and made by slaves, or from the American company that advised them how to do it (https://mondediplo.com/1998/01/11volkswag)? The failure or inability of businesses and governments to respond to genocide is clear, both in history and in today’s newspaper. What have the governments of the developed world done for the Rohingya -- and what can they do?
Sadly, for the reader of this book, the substance of the story is laid out in the introduction. Reading the rest can be a slog. And personally, I wanted to know exactly how these machines worked. There are occasional technical paragraphs, the instruments could add, or sort, or alphabetize, but this book needs an appendix with diagrams and clear technical explanations. I thought that the machines themselves were an important part of the story.
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I read a used hardbound copy of this book. I’ve heard that the paperback version is a second edition that has additional information and corrections
feeona's review against another edition
4.0
This book was recommended to me back at university from my teacher in corporate history. I already knew from our lecture some of the key facts and was really interested as IBM has become such a big company and I also know that they were the ones building the first simultaneous translation units and providing them for free for the Nuremberg Trials. So how can it be that a company involved in the holocaust helps to sentence others for their crimes instead of being in the dock themselves?
“IBM and the Holocaust” gives a very detailed answer to this question. You can tell by his emphasizing that the author has a personal interest in this topic. He did a lot of research and gives a wide overview of how IBM was managing their subsidiaries in Europe – with focus on Germany and occupied territories. Sometimes it’s êven a bit too detailed, e.g. when the amount of various machines is listed.
I was more than onces “shocked” about how unscrupulous IBM leader Watson was, but not like he was a bad person (maybe he was anyway, can’t judge) – but so ecomically focused, so efficient. Kind of impressive. But only from economical perspective. Even though they called themselves the “IBM family”, humanity was only important when it helped the company.
I recommend this book to everyone interested in corporate history and /or accounting of the holocaust.
“IBM and the Holocaust” gives a very detailed answer to this question. You can tell by his emphasizing that the author has a personal interest in this topic. He did a lot of research and gives a wide overview of how IBM was managing their subsidiaries in Europe – with focus on Germany and occupied territories. Sometimes it’s êven a bit too detailed, e.g. when the amount of various machines is listed.
I was more than onces “shocked” about how unscrupulous IBM leader Watson was, but not like he was a bad person (maybe he was anyway, can’t judge) – but so ecomically focused, so efficient. Kind of impressive. But only from economical perspective. Even though they called themselves the “IBM family”, humanity was only important when it helped the company.
I recommend this book to everyone interested in corporate history and /or accounting of the holocaust.
cdhotwing's review against another edition
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.0
melisscharber's review against another edition
5.0
Wow! This was some book to get through. So much in it, it took me longer than expected. I briefly had to take break from it to let process and sink in. When you read this book you can clearly tell it is well research! I enjoy reading about WWII, trying to understand how events could take place. Really disgusted to find out a big US company was so involved in Hitlers plans. Whether they truly understood I don’t know. But enough for sure was known? They chose money over doing what’s right. I will never look at IBM the same again. Definitely worth reading if you love to read about the past.
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