We often wonder how Nazi Germany could commit such atrocities in large numbers. At the time, there had yet to be technology that allowed the tracking and regulating of information. International Business Machines Corporation, also known as, IBM was among the first to create an information gathering system. According to Harvard Business school, IBM’s role in the Holocaust started on June 28th, 1937, in Berlin when TJ Watson met with Adolf Hitler.
Watson was the CEO of IBM. IBM was among the first to create the first type of data processing machine before computers. These electromechanical computers allowed the ability to track people by the use of punch cards. Punch cards were the size of a dollar bill and allowed machines to read information based on their patterns. These cards stored personal information such as addresses and even details of which particular religion residents followed in a location. IBM’s punch cards made possible the overreach of personal information gathered, allowing Germans to discriminate against Jewish businesses.
IBM directly supplied the Nazis with the technology used to help identify and transport millions of Jews to concentration camps. IBM had various concentration camp codes to track their prisoners better. The codes show IBM’s numerical designation for various camps. Auschwitz was 001, Buchenwald was 002, Dachau was 003, and so forth. Prisoners, such as gypsies and homosexuals, were categorized and reduced to IBM numbers. Inmate deaths were also classified based on execution: suicide, natural death, “special treatment " in gas chambers, etc., and reduced to a mere IBM digit.
IBM made Hitler’s plans possible and provided high-functioning computer-like machines in an age before computers existed.
IBM played an active role in assisting Hitler. As previously mentioned, TJ Watson not only met with Hitler in person, but he also managed and customized the Nazi Project for 12 years.
IBM, which is the same company that aided the Holocaust, is now being entrusted with creating COVID-19 vaccination cards that will be used to hold personal information via digital “Health Pass.” These Health passes will be used in almost every function of our everyday life. According to IBM’s website, the health passes will ensure wellness checks for those wanting to board a plane, travel, or enter sporting events.
Employers can also request IBM’s services to monitor their employees. This health pass will provide people’s personal information, temperature test, PCR results, and other COVID-19 test results. As of current, the IBM health pass is being used by the vaccine company Moderna.
IBM emphasizes that they ensure the privacy and protection of personal information from hackers. According to IBM, the information obtained will only be given to the government, travel companies, and employers that wish to verify their employees' health credentials.
Americans should be asking themselves, who is protecting “we the people” from the potential abuse of power from IBM and the government? It wasn’t hackers that utilized IBM’s technology to mobilize the Holocaust; it was IBM and the government’s partnership. According to the IBM newsroom, IBM is co-launching this project with the White House Office of Science and Technology.
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About the Author:
Noelle Fitchett is a first-generation college student from Los Angeles California, who first began speaking out about her conservative views after the city riots. Since then she has become the YAL (Young Americans for Liberty) Spokeswoman for Orange County, a PragerU influencer, and has volunteered for GenZ GOP. She is most passionate about freedom of speech and helping her surrounding communities.