"IBM’s darkest chapter: controversy over WW2" Topic

"Retired IBM internal auditor Michael Zamczyk was born in a ghetto of Krakow, Poland during the war years and endured the occupation by the Nazis with his family, many of whom were eventually killed in the nearby Auschwitz concentration camp – including his father.

Now living in Palm Springs, Calif. after working for IBM's San Jose office for 35 years, Zamczyk still seeks a public apology from his former employee for supplying the punch card tabulating technology that Adolf Hitler's Third Reich used to implement their Final Solution. Further, he'd like to see IBM be indicted as an accessory to mass murder – though he doesn't think that's really going to happen…."
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Amicalement
Armand

Some people really do have a very poor grip on reality.

There were some very odd business arrangements going on back then. I was just reading yesterday about how after Brazil joined the Allies in August 1942, the Americans continued to allow the German-run airline in the country stay in business (using American supplied gasoline) for some time, because the Brazilians depended on it for transportation in their railroad-poor nation. It wasn't shut down until PanAm took over operations alter that year.

Really?

The data processing equipment was sold to the Weimar Republic. The Nazis took it over and put it to bad use. This is like charging somebody with bank robbery if the crooks stole his car and used it in their getaway.

IBM also produced about 346,500 M1 carbines during the years 1943- 44 for the U.S. military.

@ rmaker +1 … very Good point …

Google search "IBM in World War 2". The search results displayed definitely create the impression the IBM's sole customer during the war was the Nazi regime's mas extermination program.

I'm not sure what that says about Google, the interweb in general or popular culture overall. Hmmmmm.

If anyone is interested to understand what else IBM was doing during the war years. go here -
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As a fun sidebar – Re the USSR's herculean program of industrial expansion in the 20s-30s: almost all of the USSR's great mass production factory complexes (like Chelyabinsk, for example) and hydro-power projects (like the Dnieper dam complex) were designed by American industrial architects and plant design engineers like Alfred Kahn and their physical construction supervised by American engineers, who also trained the Soviet staff and workers who would go on to operate them when completed.

B

Today with some of the US tech companies' employees not wanting to support/work with the US Military/Gov't and/or work with the Chinese instead.

I wonder what history will say about that ? I guess in the old days that might be considered treason ? But I'm not a lawyer or very liberal, etc.

I own one of those IBM-made M1 carbines :)

We keep telling the IT guy in the gaming group that he needs one of those IBM-made carbines. He just isn't willing to part with the $$ now.