Dehomag

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Dehomag was a German business, effectively a franchisee and subcompany of International Business Machines. The word was an acronym for Deutsche Hollerith-Maschinen Gesellschaft mbH - "German Hollerith Machines LLC." "Hollerith" refers to the inventor of the technology of punched cards, Herman Hollerith.

Under Nazi Germany, Dehomag was the company that leased and maintained the Nazis' collection of punch card machines. The use of this technology increased the efficiency of the Final Solution greatly. ^{[citation needed]}

The Hollerith Punch-card system was invented for the U.S. Census Bureau around 1890 by German-American Herman Hollerith. He leased the machines to foreign governments as well for census work, including Russia. Willy Heidinger, an acquaintance of Hollerith's and soon-Nazi supporter, licensed all of Hollerith’s patents in 1910, and created DEHOMAG, leasing Hollerith technology in Germany.

[edit] Further reading

• Black, Edwin. IBM and the Holocaust: The Strategic Alliance between Nazi Germany and America's Most Powerful Corporation' ISBN 0-609-60799-5
• IBM and the Holocaust Book review at greenleft.au
• IBM and the Holocaust Book review at www.hacknot.info
• CNN: "A Swiss court allows Gypsies' Holocaust lawsuit to proceed"
• Dehomag D11 tabulation machine exhibit in the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum