IBM and the Holocaust: The Strategic Alliance Between Nazi Germany and America's Most Powerful Corporation - Edwin Black

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ISBN: 978-0-609-90899
Verdict: 👍👍 👍👍

I actually read this book when it was first published, about 19 years ago, hence the ISBN number does not correspond to that on Amazon (weird). However, I decided to revisit this book after reading a misleading post from an IBM Employee promoting the historical credentials in a positive way. 

So I picked it up again and scan read taking note of the bits I had previously highlighted approx 2 decades ago to write this review.

It’s one of those books that one should read if interested in the link / connection between business and political regimes.

 IBM and its German subsidiary custom-designed complex solutions anticipating the Reich's needs. The amazing thing is that IBM did not sell the machines and walk away. Instead, IBM leased these machines for high fees and became the sole source of the billions of punch cards Hitler needed to execute the functionality of the machine - execute being an key word !

For me the one thing that sticks out from the book is the quote on page 74 

“Some uniforms were brown. Some were Blue”

I enjoyed reading this book, it provided me with so much new information and as I had previously highlighted so many pages it was easy to revisit and here are some key points;

"For IBM, information was money. The more Germany calculated, tabulated, sorted, and analysed, the greater the demand for machines. Equally important , once a machine was leased, it required vast quantities of punch cards….. How many punch cards were needed? Million-per week” page 97

IBM Punch CARD
IBM supplied punch card for the Nazi Dehomag Hollerith machine  

The book is full of useful facts e.g. " At one point ,Norwegian saboteurs used explosive to destroy Watson Norsk's offices. They hoped to disrupt the company's in-house servicing of the Nazi labour office, which coordinated both conscripted and slave workers.. " p402 

The author does stress that Thomas Watson (IBM) was not a Fascist - just a business man, who saw an opportunity and took it -  employing a policy of 'credible deniability' - 'don't ask don't tell'.

Obviously one cannot blame the IBM of today for the IBM of yesterday, especially as today it is a more open diverse company. However, as always, it is good to appreciate the foundations and the wealth it was built on, which could be applied to many large old trading companies and families.

I recommend reading this book -  it shows the link between Business and real Social Injustices - a lesson for all executives.

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