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Other Reviews
With
exhaustive research, Black makes the case that IBM and Watson
conspired with Nazi Germany to help automate the genocide
of Europe's Jews. . . . Black's book is so enlightening
[because] it paints a richly textured picture of how a man
[Watson], and an entire company, can ignore all sense of
morality while not once transgressing the lines of business
ethics. If nothing else, this book should be required reading
for every first-year MBA student. As you might imagine,
IBM has strongly disputed many of Black's allegations. And
one very simple argument in IBM's favor is that "punch
cards didn't commit genocide in Europe; people did."
That is absolutely true. People following orders activated
the showers at Auschwitz, pulled the triggers at Babi Yar,
and operated IBM punch-card tabulators in Dachau.
Sam
Jaffe
Businessweek.com
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REVIEW
Black's
great contribution is that he has tenaciously collected
a lot of information and combined it in an original way.
Few others have thought to place this information in the
same context, to see what inferences can be drawn. Black's
history makes two chilling observations. The first is that
the Holocaust was possible because the Nazis had access
not only to guns and gas but also to cutting-edge census
technology. The second is that the Nazis had access to this
technology because IBM, in its paranoid zeal, worked very
hard to maintain its market dominance of the global market
in data processing.
Anthony
Sebok
CNN.com
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REVIEW
A
shocking account of IBM's complicity with the Nazis is a
reminder that people bear moral responsibility for the actions
of the corporation—a point that critics have failed to grasp.
Jack
Beatty
The Atlantic Online
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REVIEW
IBM
and the Holocaust tells the incredible story of IBM's lengthy
alliance with Nazi Germany--beginning in the first weeks
Hitler came to power in 1933 and continuing into World War
II. As the Third Reich embarked upon its plan of control
and extermination, IBM and its subsidiaries helped create
early computer technologies for the German government that
streamlined the efficient identification, cataloging, and
ultimately, killing of millions of Jews, gypsies, and homosexuals.
... A half-century has done nothing to lessen the chill
of Hitler and his extensive extermination camps. And the
book chronicles valid history that must be explored in order
to be understood. ... Ultimately, the book's most important
lesson is that greed has no morals. That's a lesson that
none of us should ever forget. James
Daly
Business 2.0
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REVIEW
With
Black's documentation, it appears to be an undeniable fact
that IBM, after the outbreak of hostilities, knew where
each of its machines were operating in Germany and the conquered
countries, and what kind of revenues it could expect from
each machine. War was just another financial opportunity
for Watson and IBM.
Values
for Management Magazine
Center for Business Ethics
Jerusalem College of Technology
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REVIEW
An
explosive book... long and dense, although written with
admirable clarity. ... If you read one book this year, make
it IBM and the Holocaust.
Cynthia
Grenier
WorldNetDaily
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REVIEW
Someone
please put this book online - why? Because this is history
for the information age. In a sustained assault on the world's
first information transnational Edwin Black has shifted
the spotlight of corporate activism away from sweatshops
and ecological destruction on to the greatest crime of the
20th century- systematic genocide - and he has done so with
all the savvy of the wired generation, understanding the
loaded politics of information technology.
Jim
Thomas
CorporateWatch.org.uk
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REVIEW
Relying
on thousands of documents including much IBM internal correspondence,
Black shows how nearly every facet of the Third Reich relied
on IBM machines. The American owned and operated company
essentially installed Nazi Germany's information infrastructure,
which is exactly what allowed Hitler to enact his policies
with nearly magical speed and precision.
Techninformer
IDG.net
IBM
and the Holocaust is a well-documented and researched book.
Black carefully backs-up every allegation he makes, using
IBM's own documents, interviews, newspaper reports, and
government records. (There are almost 200 hundred pages
of notes in the Large Print edition of this book.) Black
deftly penetrates Watson's cloak of deniability, proving
that Watson, and IBM, did indeed know to what use his machines
were being put to in Germany. Black does this by semi-imposing
newspaper and governmental reports of the atrocities, and
documenting the trips that Watson repeatedly took to Germany,
and interoffice and personal correspondence that shows that
Watson knew what was going on. . . . IBM and the Holocaust
is a chilling example of the extent to which corporate greed
can run amok - and the horrific effects that such greed
can have.
Rochelle
Caviness
largeprintreviews.com
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REVIEW
Black's
research clearly reveals how Hollerith punch card reading
machines, the German IBM affiliate, facilitated the genocidal
process. . . . This is a devastating critique of the role
of international corporate structures allied with high tech
to make a profit under any circumstances, including genocide.
Mike
Steel
Berglund Center for Internet Studies
Through
meticulous research, author Edwin Black documents how the
German government used the Hollerith machines to identify
its intended targets. … Once the government had this information,
it was able to carry out the persecutions that followed.
… Black argues convincingly that hundreds of Hollerith machines
and millions of punch cards, all custom-designed and supplied
by IBM's wholly-owned German subsidiary, made possible the
speedy and efficient roundup of vast populations, first
in Germany, then in other countries. … It seems beyond dispute
that IBM's machines played an important role in some of
the most horrific events of the 1930s and 1940s in Europe.
Thus the Holocaust Museum decided to display the Hollerith
when it opened its doors. … as Black writes, unless we learn
from the past, "more lists will be compiled against more
people." Robert
Ristelhueber,
online managing editor
EBN OnLine
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REVIEW
Black
presents his case clearly, methodically, and with extensive
footnoting as if he were a prosecutor in court. The evidence
of doublespeak, cover-ups and outright lies from IBM president,
Thomas Watson, Sr., and other IBM executives is overwhelming.
Sandy
Smith
Book Bytes
IBM,
upon which the Nazi regime was utterly dependent for organizing
the systematic extermination of Jews and others, could have,
by walking away from evil, slowed the Holocaust and the
extent of Nazi occupation and terror. It didn't. The US
government could have stopped IBM. It didn't. The guiding
principle of business and governments under capitalism is
profit-making. Genocide and war did not divert IBM from
"business as usual". When the Gestapo came knocking on the
doors of Europe's Jews, the lists were courtesy of IBM's
lust for profits. If ever an example is needed of why the
capitalist profit-system should be abolished, then the behavior
of IBM in preparing, facilitating and reaping the spoils
from genocide, provides it. Phil
Shannon
Greenleft.org
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REVIEW
The
coming months will no doubt see a deft and poshly-financed
campaign by IBM to cover their tracks. One can almost hear
their defense echoing from the halls of Nuremberg: "We
had no knowledge of the extermination program."
Marc
Fisher
About.com
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REVIEW
Black
is convincing, and the story he tells sordid.
Stefanie
Syman
FeedMagazine.com
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REVIEW
Black
concludes that the efficiency and effectiveness of Germany's
final solution for the Jews, not to mention its war machine
generally, would have been greatly hampered had IBM withdrawn
from its long established economic relationship with the
Third Reich after the US entered the war. Considering IBM
and the Holocaust's meticulous research, its wealth
of citation, and the support of surrounding, established
historical fact, this conclusion would be undeniable were
it not for the bitter irony that this conclusion also clearly
demonstrates that people like Thomas J. Watson, IBM's legendary
CEO, were capable of denying anything.
Kenny
Brechner
DDGbooks Online
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REVIEW
PR
nightmares don't come much worse than this one. . . . Edwin
Black names IBM as a strategic accomplice in the Nazi regime's
cataloguing of Holocaust victims. . . . Black's accusations,
which some in the press reported as "exhaustively"
documented, will be tough to dismiss. . . . IBM will have
its hands full distancing itself from this one.
David
Sims
Industry Standard
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REVIEW
This
is a frightening book, one that leaves a clear feeling of
discomfort when one finally lays it down. The distress is
not so much created by the ugly reminder of Nazi horrors,
and IBM's complicity, but rather the inescapable truth:
International business acknowledges no borders, no politics,
and no morals. The only law is the bottom line, and we are
all willing participants.
Ken
McVay, Director
The Nizkor Project
www.nizkor.org
A
disturbing book, but remarkably well crafted despite being
so heavily annotated. It is a must-read for anyone involved
in corporate decision-making or remotely concerned with
IT or corporate ethics. What was -- or is -- IBM's responsibility?
That will be debated for a long time, but you can only answer
that question for yourself if you've actually read the book.
Carlton
Vogt
IDG.net
READ
REVIEW
Highly
Recommended! ...a compelling account... This fascinating
book puts IBM's history of conformist culture in a new light,
although it reveals a story IBM undoubtedly would rather
leave untold. We at GetAbstract.com recommend this fine
work of historical reporting to general readers and academics,
as well as executives and managers. You'll be enthralled
and outraged.
Rolf
Dobelli
getAbstract.com
READ
REVIEW
The
book is worth the read, but not for Black's conclusions.
He asks the reader to be shocked at a destructive use of
technology and by corporate greed--- two things that history
teaches us are more or less inevitable and often directly
related. The real shock from this book and the real achievement
of Black's research is the revelation that a powerful American
corporation aided the Nazi cause and profited from it. …
Even if the question is never raised in a court of law,
Black's book raises it in our minds and brings the Holocaust
closer to home --- closer than perhaps other historians
have had the courage to do. Most Americans, including Watson,
knew of the persecution of Germany's Jews but were blinded
not by the scarlet swastikabanner but by the green dollar
sign and, in this case, the Big Blue.
James
Krouse
Bookreporter.com
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REVIEW
IBM
and the Holocaust is a stunning, deeply troubling work of
in-depth investigative reportage. In it, Edwin Black reveals
how IBM's support allowed the Nazis to automate the persecution
and destruction of the European Jews … in the monumental
logistical task of gathering names, making endless lists
and carrying out their ghastly "final solution."
Black and his researchers worked for more than five years
to piece together this story of collusion, structured deniability
and profits made from horrific acts. Black's passionate,
carefully documented indictment should be read and heard
as widely as possible.
Sukey
Howard
Bookpage.com
READ
REVIEW
I
highly recommend the reading of the book. Not because it
gives new insights into the political reasons for the establishment
of fascism in Germany, Black does not attempt to make such
an appraisal, nor does he claim to, largely attributing
IBM's involvement with the Third Reich to the unscrupulous
nature of Watson as an individual. Nevertheless, Black's
research into the involvement of such a major corporation
does help in understanding how the Nazis were able to carry
through their genocide. In doing so, he sheds more light
on the role of international capital in one of the greatest
crimes of the 20th century. Peter
Reydt
WSWS Book Reviews
Watson did business with Nazi Germany because it was profitable.
Hitler may have burned books, but he invested heavily in
information technology. As "Greater Germany" expanded, so
did the Hollerith market. Persecution, conquest, and genocide
were good for business. Looking
at Books Online
Vince Juliano
No
one can fault Black for not doing his research. There is
no doubt that this book represents an immense amount of
work. By the time you’ve read this book, Black’s statement
that “behind every text footnote is a file folder with all
the hardcopy documentation needed to document every sentence
in this book at a moment’s notice” seems modest instead
of outrageous. ... How much did IBM headquarters know? The
IBM top was fully informed, and when U.S.A. law made direct
dealing with the Nazis illegal, IBM purposely circumnavigated
this law by continuing its business from its Swiss office.
That’s the story, and Black brings proof to the table. ...It
is some horribly fascinating reading. 5 stars.
Epinions.com
While
sentiments on this book vary, the critics agree that whether
or not IBM and its president positively knew all that Hitler
was plotting to do using their technology, they certainly
knew enough to trigger concern even in a Business Ethics
101 student's mind.Science Fiction novels abound with stories
of man-made machines taking over and enslaving the human
race. Like a page out of one of these novels, this book
exposes that corporations have done a good job taking over
and that the health of the corporation is considered well
before the health of our fellow humans. This book may not
have proven that IBM knew all about Nazi Germany's actions
but it does show that the corporation took pains to maintain
plausible deniability while still turning a profit.
Kevin
French
Academia
Black
has created a must-read work of history. But it's also a
fascinating business book examining the colliding influences
of personality, morality, and cold strategic calculation.
Tim
Appelo
Amazon.com Reviews
Edwin
Black ... rips the lid off a stunning historical scandal:
the long alliance between one of America's most famous companies,
IBM, and Hitler's Third Reich. ... Now, thanks to Black,
the truth is revealed. ... Most amazingly, the founder of
IBM himself--Thomas Watson, who is revered as one of the
20th century's greatest thinkers--was directly involved
in and profited from this most unholy of alliances. Watson
took great pains to hide any trace of the connection.
Nicholas Sinis
BarnesandNoble.com Reviews
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