Hollerith punch cards for prisoners were identified with nationality, DOB, reason for incarceration, reason for departure

Cards sent to SS department of statistics in Oranienburg to determine work needs

General Oswald Pohl created “Extermination by labor” program

IBM founder Hollerith of German descent, born in Buffalo 1860

Hollerith inspired by specially punched tram tickets indicating passenger physical characteristics

Prototype in 1884, won contest for automated counting device to be used for 1890 census

Leased machines to government for census and sold them to other governments

Hollerith outspoken, abrasive, paranoid; obsessed with his privacy and German heritage

Finally incorporated in 1896, initially as Tabulating Machine Company

In 1911 sold to capitalist Charles Flint, who combined it with computing and time clock companies into conglomerate Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company, then put Thomas Watson in charge

Renamed to IBM in 1924; cult-like devotion and culture under Watson

Watson cultivated myth of Leader around himself; autocratic and paternalistic; 7100 company songs

As German offshoot Dehomag declined post World War I, and Watson bought it out as subsidiary

Anti-German boycotts starting in 1933 didn’t dissuade Watson from investing in Germany: Watson and IBM names not obvious in Dehomag and opportunity was great with government in transition needing monitoring tools

Hitler initiated census in 1933 after taking power

Census results cross-indexed by religion and location to prepare for removal

Watson moved in to fill the space of fleeing companies in Germany and restructured to avoid corporate profits tax

Watson allowed Dehomag to circumvent IBM agencies around Europe and create hegemony for expanding operations (i.e. annexing)

Public didn’t realized Dehomag was IBM subsidiary

Watson openly admired Hitler and Mussolini for fascistic style

Tabulation required millions of one-time-use cards per week

Dehomag advertised Hollerith machines’ surveillance capabilities

Deployed for race science, eugenics, and sterilization beginning in 1934

U.S. Social Security Act passed in 1935 without budget appropriation or infrastructure because didn’t think tech existed, but IBM’s new collating machines allowed for it

IBM funded by Nazi Germany and United States; became “quasi-governmental”

Watson a friend of Roosevelt and titan of industry; contacts at State and international Chamber of Commerce

Watson awarded the Merit Cross of the German Eagle with Star by Hitler

Arranged for Chamber meeting in 1937 to be in Berlin to counteract boycotts and anti-German sentiment

IBM/Dehomag was already in Austria, Czechoslovakia, and Poland when annexed, so Jewish discrimination began immediately

Census completed in Greater Reich in 1939, for racial data

Watson chief proponent of trade of raw material to Axis powers

FBI started investigating IBM-Nazi connections and subversives within U.S. in May 1940

In June 1940 Watson finally wrote Hitler to break it off and return medal; Dehomag outraged and wanted to sever from IBM, but monopoly power made it difficult

IBM responsible for 90% of punch card technology in the world: cartel through leasing and trademark control

Justice Department began investigating in 1942-43 via Economic Warfare department

Holleriths recruited for manufacturing weapons, cryptography, draft records, weather monitoring on D-Day

Census Bureau created maps with population density dots to mark Japanese population after Pearl Harbor; same tech used to organize transfers to concentration camps

Both Axis and Allies needed IBM

Labor Assignment Offices in camps issued daily work orders and processed inmate cards