Hollerith Machine

The role of technology and more specifically, information technology played an important role in the Nazi Genocide of the Jewish population of Europe. Nazis used a Hollerith machine, a calculating engine and one of the first “modern computers” that was developed by Herman Hollerith, who was a census taker. With this device, the Nazis were able to track down the Jewish populations in Europe and gather information about the "accomplishment" of the Genocide.

It is apparent that the Nazi Genocide of the European Jews (which occurred 1933-1945) was in a way, somewhat thankful for the use of technology, and that technology was not at all unimportant, but instead was an extremely essential medium for the execution for the genocide of the Jewish population- the Nazi Genocide of the Jews could have only been possible due to the technological growth and the modern industrial culture that was developing.

All governments collect data/information about citizens. The Nazi regime, however, used this information to track down their political opponents and to implement racial policies, and, of course to commit mass murder. In about 1934, different government departments started to gather card catalogs that would identify racial enemies, such as Jews, as well as political enemies of the regime. The census of 1939 became the basis for a national register of the Jewish population. During that time the German census forms contained racial categories- Jews were not only identified by their religious association, but also by their race. After three years, the national register of Jews was complete and became a main information source for the Nazi deportation lists.

During the 1930’s/1940’s, these Hollerith machines were considered to be the most efficient processing devices that were available at the time. During 1933 and 1939, the Nazi regime was able to record national census data onto the Hollerith punch cards, which the SS used during the war to observe and control the amount of prisoners that were being sent to and from the concentration camps.

This is a perfect example of technology being used for something beneficial to our society, and how it can easily be abused. This is similar to our society today with the use of the internet. The internet was certainly not invented for cyber bullying, stalking, stealing, etc. but instead was invented to make it easy to share information. People are constantly coming up with ways to abuse the power of technology. It just goes back to what we were discussing in class that the question of technology is subjective- it can be used for good or bad. The Hollerith machine was simply designed to assist in summarizing information and to help process data for the 1890 U.S. Census- not to assist in the creation of the Nazis’ deportation lists.

Sources:

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/Hollerith.html

http://www2.iath.virginia.edu/holocaust/infotech.html