The darkest chapter in IBM's history is not mentioned in its centennial ad at all. Germany, both before and during World War II, used IBM punch card equipment to conduct population censuses used to identify many of those later sent to their deaths. The Hollerith machine, manufactured and distributed by IBM's German subsidiary.coach outlet , Deutsche Hollerith Maschinen Gesellschaft, or Dehomag, made it possible for Germany to conduct in mere days feats of information processing that otherwise might have been impossible.

IBM acquired Dehomag in 1923, when the Nazis' first attempt to seize power had been squashed and Hitler himself was imprisoned. IBM, therefore, could have had no way of knowing at the .Cheap uggs,time how its machines would be used. However, Watson Sr., still CEO at the time, continued to play an active role in the operations of the subsidiary after the Nazis took control in 1933. Critics, most notably Edwin Black, the author of a book on the subject, have argued that Watson Sr. and others in IBM's New York headquarters must have known what was happening and knowi.gucci outlet ngly profited from the Nazis' reign of well-ordered terror. (2)

IBM has responded to accusations by saying that there is no concrete evidence that it was more culpable than any other company doing business with Germany before war broke out. Companies do not have control over how their products are used, defenders of IBM argue. The Nazis wore boots and wool coats, but we do.coach outlet online not blame the garment makers. The Luftwaffe flew airplanes, but the Wright brothers were not to blame for the Blitz. Black counters that the IBM products used by the Nazis differed from boots or coats in that they were all custom-designed for their ghoulish purposes. And, while a shoemaker's connection to a boot ends soon after it leaves the assembly line, Dehomag and IBM's P.Cheap boots olish subsidiary, established after the Germany invaded Poland in 1939, provided ongoing maintenance.

IBM has pleaded a sort of selective institutional amnesia on the subject. A press release claimed that "IBM does not have much information about this period or the operations of Dehomag. Most documents were destroyed or lost during the war." This is a little odd for a com.djkjdjindlkldgoodle2011927pany that prides itself on its sense of identity and makes its money keeping track of information. IBM has promised to release additional documents about its wartime activities should it ever find them.

Regardless of what history has fallen into IBM's memory gap, those who work at the company now bear no guilt. Most of them were not born at the time, and none of them were working for IBM then.

That does not, however, mean that the company itself is not responsible. It has a moral obligation, if not a legal one, to mitigate any damages it caused to whatever extent it can. By committing to ideals that endure beyond a single human lifetime, as Watson Sr. did, we create entities that carry their own identities and t
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