Friends, Enemies, and Sometimes Both (594 hits)
Category: Business & FinancialRating: 0.4 on 7 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by d'ohnuts (View user info) at 2004-06-24 09:27:58 EDT
Excerpts from the Associated Press:
A Swiss appellate court has cleared the way for Gypsies to sue International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) over published allegations that the computer company's punch-card machines helped the Nazis commit mass murder more efficiently, the plaintiffs' lawyer said yesterday.
"IBM's complicity through material or intellectual assistance to the criminal acts of the Nazis during World War II via its Geneva office cannot be ruled out," the appellate ruling said. It cited "a significant body of evidence indicating that the Geneva office could have been aware that it was assisting these acts."
IBM has consistently denied that it was in any way responsible for the way its machines were used in the Holocaust.
The Gypsies' lawyer maintains that the company's Geneva office continued to coordinate Europe-wide trade with the Nazis, acting on clear instructions from world headquarters in New York.
The campaigners began planning the lawsuit after U.S. author Edwin Black wrote in a 2001 book, IBM and the Holocaust, that IBM punch-card machines enabled the Nazis to make their killing operations more efficient.
It does not appear inconsistent to conclude that the respondent [IBM] facilitated the task of the Nazis in their committing of crimes against humanity--acts which were counted and codified by IBM machines," the ruling said.
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The fact that IBM may have done business with the Third Reich should really come as no surprise, given the track record of other US corporations during World War II.
As German bombs fell on London and Nazi tanks rolled over US troops, Sosthenes Behn--president and founder of the US based ITT corporation--met with his German representative to discuss improving German communication systems. ITT was designing and building Nazi phone and radio systems as well as supplying crucial parts for German bombs.
Our government knew all about this, for under a presidential order, US companies were licensed to trade with the Nazis. While the Secretary of State gave the Ford Motor Company permission to make Nazi tanks, he simultaneously blocked aid to German-Jewish refugees.
Other US companies trading with the Third Reich were General Motors, DuPont, Standard Oil of New Jersey, Davis Oil Co., and the Chase National Bank. President Roosevelt did not stop them, fearing a scandal might lead to another stock market crash or lower US morale. In addition, the same companies that traded with Hitler were supplying the US with its armaments, and their corporate leaders threatened to withdraw their support if Roosevelt exposed them.
As an example, there is no doubt that Henry Ford was a friend of Hitler's. His book--The International Jew--had Inspired Hitler's Mein Kampf. The Fuhrer kept Ford's picture in his office, and Ford was one of only four foreigners to receive Germany's highest civilian award.
As for Sosthenes Behn, at the end of the war, he received the highest civilian award for service to his country--the United States of America.
And some will say, "Big corporations aren't evil..."
User Reviews
Submitted by runninginplace (user info) at 2004-06-24 14:25:56 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Fine Geneva, my bad, but you have to admit that the lawyer is "claiming" it did so under the direction of the US office. It has yet to be proven.
Second, I still maintain that they owe no particular loyalty to the U.S. The company is international.
Third, if you recall from history we did not get involved with this war for a long time because it was seen as a European problem. Some people in the US would no doubt have preferred to side with Germany. The article doesn't mention dates or the extent that IBM was aware of exactly what the technology they were providing was being used for. Many Americans had no idea about the atrocities that were occurring, so to blame them for "evil"i is wrong.
If they (U.S. office) knew about the genocide and still willingly helped, then I agree it is wrong.
Many companies did cut off ties, after legislation was passed prohibiting them from doing business with germany, but not before.
Submitted by dohnuts (user info) at 2004-06-24 12:10:19 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
For the third time, it isn't IBM's GERMAN office that is the target of the lawsuit. It's the Geneva office, under direction by New York.
IBM could have very easily cut off all ties with it's German counterpart, which was not a separate entity acting as an independent agent. And in fact many American companies that were doing business in Germany before the war did exactly that--cutoff all ties with Germany.
Regardless, nothing you've said absolves a corporation from behaving in a morally responsible way. And doing business with the enemy is morally irresponsible. It may be good for business; it is not, however, morally responsible.
All of the companies that did business with the Third Reich did so because profits were more important than principles. What's more, for the second time, they threatened to pull support and supplies to the US if it was made public that they were doing business with the Nazis; because they knew what that would do to their standing with the American public. I would even give them a little more credit if they were on the up and up about it and said "Hey, we're a business, and we're in the business of making money whatever way we can do it."
But that's not how it went down. They waved the Stars and Stripes in one hand, and the Swastika in the other.
Whether I'm a hypocrite or not, that's still evil.
Submitted by runninginplace (user info) at 2004-06-24 10:28:31 EDT (#)
Ranking: -1
Before the war started we were neutral and traded with both sides.
After the war started, how could a company like IBM ask it's GERMAN division, probably made up mainly of GERMANS to not sell to their country men. Added to the fact that the Nazis were in control of the country and according to IBM, the German division itself, it is stupid to believe they could do anything but trade with the German government. Corporations are international now. They are "owned" by people from all over. They do not owe any one country loyalty.
Does anybody actually believe that if we went to war with Japan today, that the Toyota factories here in the states would stop producing cars? Or do you doubt that we would make use of their industrial setup to make tanks, planes, etc.. if it came to that?
Ford received the award in Michigan in 1938. That is long before we were involved in any war in Europe or the Pacific. Yes, Ford was racist but that has nothing to do with the corporations. Anybody can be racist, from CEO to janitor.
If you truly believe corporations morph into something evil, than I challenge you to stop shopping at them. Never again buy any item or service offered by a corporation, either directly or through a proxy. Don't try to claim you can't. I don't think the Amish buy a lot of corporate goods. If you can do as good as they do, then you can complain. Else, you are just a hypocrite.
Submitted by dohnuts (user info) at 2004-06-24 10:12:27 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
akrofiild: Agreed... to a certain extent. I use evidence from that period because, more than anything else, I'm trying to show why it's not unreasonable to think IBM was complicit.
I didn't mention the takeover of IBM's German office because that is irrelevant to the lawsuit, which claims it was IBM's Geneva office--under direction from the New York office--that was continuing to orchestrate trade with the Third Reich.
I used the word "aren't" because I personally don't believe big corporations have adjusted their moral compasses that much over the past 60 years. Once corporations reach a certain size, some sort of transmogrification (damn I love that word) takes place, and their primary concern becomes the bottom line, the almighty dollar, and the coffers of the shareholders. Even if that means doing business with "The Enemy."
Submitted by akrofiild (user info) at 2004-06-24 09:48:50 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
Read the article as well. But you should change you last line to:
And some will say, "Big corporations WEREn't evil..."
All the evidence from the article and your statment is about the corporations actions over 50 years ago. I do agree that the corporations today are fucking us with razor wire but try not to pull that bleeding shit out of your ass and put it in a post.
Also: "The firm insists that it had no role in the Holocaust, and that its German unit was taken over before the war." Do try and present at least a little bit of the oppositions view.
Submitted by munkeypants (user info) at 2004-06-24 09:47:55 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
they had computers in the '40s?
i am confused!!!
Submitted by whataefag (user info) at 2004-06-24 09:38:37 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I read this article yesterday, and, frankly, was not at all surprised. There's a mentality that whatever it takes to make a buck is acceptable amongst many large corporations, and with this horrendous attitude it's no wonder that capitalist countries are the brunt of world aggravation.