Dehomag

Dehomag

Dehomag was a German subsidiary of IBM with monopoly in the German market before and during World War II.[1] The word was an acronym for Deutsche Hollerith-Maschinen Gesellschaft mbH (English: German Hollerith Machines LLC). Hollerith refers to the German-American inventor of the technology of punched cards, Herman Hollerith.

Under Nazi Germany, Dehomag leased and maintained the Nazis' collection of card punch machines. The use of this technology increased the efficiency of the Final Solution. IBM in New York established a special subsidiary, Watson Business Machines, to deal with railway traffic in the General Government during the Holocaust in Poland. The German Transport Ministry used IBM machines under the New York-controlled subsidiary in Warsaw, not the German subsidiary. Dehomag general manager for Germany, Hermann Rottke, reported to Thomas J. Watson in New York. It was legal for IBM to service the Third Reich directly, but only until America entered the war in December 1941.

The technology of punched cards dates back at least to the 18th century when it was used for mass production of woven textiles and later used as a recording and play back system in player pianos. The use of punched cards for recording and tabulating data was first proposed and used by Semen Korsakov in or about 1805. In 1832 Charles Babbage proposed using similar cards to program and store computation by his calculating engine. Punch card technology was further developed for tabulating and data processing purposes by Herman Hollerith, dated back to the 1880s. It was used for the 1890 United States Census and for the census work of several foreign governments. Willy Heidinger, an acquaintance of Hollerith, licensed all of Hollerith’s patents in 1910, and created Dehomag in Germany. In 1911 Hollerith's company merged with several others, forming Computing Tabulating Recording Corporation (CTR). In 1923 CTR acquired 90% ownership of Dehomag, thus acquiring patents developed by them.[2] In 1924 CTR was renamed IBM.

In the following years, Dehomag, obeying the direct orders of IBM and Thomas J. Watson, became the main provider of computing expertise and equipment in Nazi Germany. Dehomag was one of the pillars of the Nazi party's control over German society, giving them the means for a large census of the population and for searching its data, at a scale never seen before.

See also

References

  1. ^ Edwin Black on IBM and the Holocaust
  2. ^ Aspray (ed.), William (1990). Computing Before Computers. Iowa State University Press. p. 137. ISBN 0-8138-0047-1. 

Further reading


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  • Dehomag — Dehomag, acronyme de Deutsche Hollerith Maschinen Gesellschaft mbH (« Compagnie allemande des machines Hollerith » en français) était une compagnie allemande, filiale et franchise d’IBM. Le nom allemand Hollerith se réfère à leur… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • DEHOMAG — Die DEHOMAG (Deutsche Hollerith Maschinen Gesellschaft mbH) war Hersteller und Vermieter von elektromechanischen Maschinen zum Be und Verarbeiten von Lochkarten. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Gründung 1910 2 Übernahme durch IBM 3 Zeit des… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • DEHOMAG — Deutsche Hollerith Maschinen Gesellschaft mbH; IBM Deutschland; Internationale Büro Maschinen Gesellschaft mbH …   Universal-Lexikon

  • DEHOMAG — Deutsche Hollerith Maschinen Gesellschaft mbH, gegr. 1910 von Willy Heidinger in Berlin Lichterfelde zur Verwertung der Patente von Herman Hollerith (Hollerith Verfahren, Lochkarte), ab 1949 IBM Deutschland ( > Lexikon der Text und… …   Acronyms

  • DEHOMAG — Deutsche Hollerith Maschinen Gesellschaft mbH, gegr. 1910 von Willy Heidinger in Berlin Lichterfelde zur Verwertung der Patente von Herman Hollerith (Hollerith Verfahren, Lochkarte), ab 1949 IBM Deutschland ( > Lexikon der Text und… …   Acronyms von A bis Z

  • Deutsche Hollerith-Maschinen Gesellschaft mbH — DEHOMAG (bis 1948); IBM Deutschland; Internationale Büro Maschinen Gesellschaft mbH …   Universal-Lexikon

  • IBM Deutschland — DEHOMAG (bis 1948); Deutsche Hollerith Maschinen Gesellschaft mbH; Internationale Büro Maschinen Gesellschaft mbH …   Universal-Lexikon

  • Internationale Büro-Maschinen Gesellschaft mbH — DEHOMAG (bis 1948); Deutsche Hollerith Maschinen Gesellschaft mbH; IBM Deutschland …   Universal-Lexikon

  • Deutsche Hollerith-Maschinen Gesellschaft — Die DEHOMAG (Deutsche Hollerith Maschinen Gesellschaft mbH) war Hersteller und Vermieter von elektromechanischen Maschinen zum Be und Verarbeiten von Lochkarten. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Gründung 1910 2 Übernahme durch IBM 3 Zeit des… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Deutsche Hollerith-Maschinen Gesellschaft mbH — Die DEHOMAG (Deutsche Hollerith Maschinen Gesellschaft mbH) war Hersteller und Vermieter von elektromechanischen Maschinen zum Be und Verarbeiten von Lochkarten. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Gründung 1910 2 Übernahme durch IBM 3 Zeit des… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

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