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The Dark Side of Great Historic Figures

Khalid Elhassan December 11, 2020 33 min

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28. Even After Germany Declared War on the US, Watson’s IBM Tried to Maintain Business Relationships With the Nazis

A WWII era IBM card sorting machine. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

After WWII began in 1939 and Germany conquered Poland, Thomas J. Watson personally approved a request to supply the Third Reich with specialized IBM machines. They were intended to help manage the exploitation of the recently conquered Poland, and the deportation of Polish Jews. The process was repeated for each country conquered by the Nazis, with IBM supplying the capabilities for easily identifying undesirables.

After America joined the war in 1941, IBM tried to maintain its business relationship with Germany, despite its now being an enemy nation at war with the US. Archival records reveal secret correspondence of IBM higher-ups to set up a shell Dutch subsidiary, in lieu of the German one built by Watson back in the 1930s, through which the company could continue working with the Nazis. By then, it was clear just how the Third Reich was using IBM’s technology. Nonetheless, the company continued to supply them with the capabilities to easily identify Jews and other undesirables.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.