pro/con IBM/Nazi

[Doug Millison]

IBM defends itself against Holocaust allegations
1) "Book, Lawsuit Slam IBM's Nazi Ties" -- News Factor Network
http://www.newsfactor.com:80/perl/story/7417.html
2) "IBM Technology Helped Facilitate the Holocaust" -- _Los Angeles Times_
http://www.latimes.com:80/news/comment/20010219/t000015086.html
3) IBM Holocaust
http://www.cmht.com/casewatch/civil/ibm.html
4) IBM Statement on Nazi-era
http://www.ibm.com/Press/prnews.nsf/jan/E761868F46444B06852569F20064F555
5) "IBM Gets An Ugly History Lesson" -- _Forbes.com
http://www.forbes.com/2001/02/12/0212global.html
6) "New IBM-Holocaust book provides one-sided look at Watson" --
_Binghamton Press_
http://www.binghamtonpress.com:80/binghamtonnews/business/Subus1.html
7) "Counted for Persecution; IBM's Role in the Holocaust" --
_Washington Jewish Week_
http://hometown.aol.com/merryeee/ibmstory.htm

Recently, the IBM computer company has been receiving bad press due
to both a newly published book and a lawsuit which claim that IBM
aided the German Nazi party in World War II. According to both _IBM
and the Holocaust: The Strategic Alliance Between Nazi Germany and
America's Most Powerful Corporation_ by Edwin Black and a lawsuit
filed by five holocaust victims, the Nazis used IBM tabulating
machinery to help identify and persecute the Jews. The lawsuit
focuses on IBM's responsibility in the Holocaust. Suzette M.
Malveaux, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, explained, "We know that IBM
equipment and expertise was used in concentration camps and that IBM
knew this." Edwin Black, the author of _IBM and the Holocaust_, also
identifies IBM as the Nazis' database equipment supplier, but he
writes that IBM aided the Germans not because the company was
sympathetic to Nazi policies, but because the company was simply
trying to get ahead in the global market.

The News Factor Network (1) and the _Los Angeles Times_ (2) provide
basic details on both the lawsuit and the book alleging IBM's role in
the Nazi's attempt to exterminate the Jews. The law firm Cohen,
Milstein, Hausfeld, and Toll (3), which represents the five holocaust
victims suing IBM, provides an excellent collection of news articles
and important documents from the case. IBM (4) has released a
statement acknowledging its business dealings with the Nazis but
insisting that it has no ideological ties to the party. _Forbes
Magazine_ (5) offers this sympathetic editorial about IBM's World War
I-era business choices, and Kevin Maney, a columnist for the
_Binghamton Press_ (6), complains that _IBM and the Holocaust_
overlooks the brilliance of IBM's founder Thomas Watson Sr. Finally,
this _Washington Jewish Week_ article (7) from 1998 offers a synopsis
of IBM's role in the Holocaust.

--from:
The Scout Report for Business and Economics -- February 22, 2000

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