• Zacpod@lemmy.world
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    10 hours ago

    IBM sold “inmate” counting machines to Nazi Germany. Like, sent techs there to the camps to size up the requirements and everything. It should NOT come as a surprise that they’re back on X - they’ve never had an issue with Fascism (or any other ism) as long as they had money to spend on overpriced iron.

    • PagingDoctorLove@lemmy.world
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      7 hours ago

      Forgive me if this is a stupid question, but why would they even need a machine to count the prisoners? If they didn’t feed their victims and were planning to murder them anyways I’m having trouble understanding why they wouldn’t be okay with just a loose head count. Was it really just for counting?

      I hope I’m not coming across as insensitive, I’ve just never heard about this and it sounds so ominous.

      • Zacpod@lemmy.world
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        6 hours ago

        https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_and_the_Holocaust

        Black reports that every Nazi concentration camp maintained its own Hollerith-Abteilung (Hollerith Department), assigned with keeping tabs on inmates through use of IBM’s punchcard technology.[2]: 351  In his book, Black charges that “without IBM’s machinery, continuing upkeep and service, as well as the supply of punch cards, whether located on-site or off-site, Hitler’s camps could have never managed the numbers they did.”[2]: 352