List of International subsidiaries of IBM
Encyclopedia
IBM has had business internationally since before the company had a name. Early leaders of the companies that would eventually become IBM (Mr Hollerith, Mr Flint, and Mr Watson) all were involved in doing international business.
In those early days, IBM had 70 foreign branches and subsidiaries worldwide. Competitors in the pre-WWII era included Remington Rand, Powers, Bull, NCR, Burroughs, and others.
. In late May, Thomas J Watson went to Berlin and got IBM's German subsidiary, Dehomag
to replace IBM's Austrian subsidiary. Dehomag would go on to perform the May 1939 Reich Census, which included Austria and other areas Germany had invaded at the time.
, a competing punch-card firm. When the US entered the WWII in 1941 the company ownership was taken by the Nazi government and given to a custodian, H. Gabrecht, who also custodied the Holland subsidiary. He allowed Bosman and Galland to keep running the company, and he coordinated with Hermann Fellinger, custodian of Dehomag.
During the war the Nazi Maschinelles Berichtwesen department took machines from Belgium to use in other parts of the Reich. Custodian Gabrecht worked on the contracts for these takings, so that the owner, IBM NY, would eventually be properly paid for the machine's use.
Please also see: Holocaust in Bulgaria
In 1936 Compagnie Electro-Comptabe de France (CEC) was created. Its customers were mostly banks, railroad and the military. CEC grew and built many factories in France.
Germany invaded France in 1940. The Nazis (especially their Maschinelles Berichtwesen department) took hundreds of CEC's machines for use elsewhere in the Reich. Many of CEC's operations were moved, as was the paper CEC needed for punchcards. CEC almost became part of a planned Nazi competitor to IBM, but the plan fell through. CEC's Nazi Kommissar was an SS man named Westerholt.
At this time CEC had offices in French colonies such as Algeria, Casablanca, and Indochina. CEC also worked with Vichy France's Demographic Department to perform a census. However the department was run by René Carmille
, a secret agent of the French underground, who failed to punch the 'Jewish' hole on the census cards, and instead used his operation to mobilize French resistance troops in Algeria.
Before World War I, when IBM was called CTR, it had a business in Germany. During that war, the German government seized the company as 'enemy property'. However, Germany's alien custody laws protected enemy assets via an Alien Property Custodian. Thus CTRs assets were returned to it in good condition after the war.
In 1922 there was a rival company named Dehomag, run by Willy Heidinger, who had brought Holleriths to Germany back in 1910. Dehomag licensed machines from CTR (later IBM). When Germany's currency suddenly lost almost all of its value due to the German inflation of the 1920s, Dehomag suddenly found itself owing enormous sums of money to CTR. Watson bought 90% of the shares of Dehomag. The remaining 10% of shares were 'specialized' with various rules to make it hard for them to be sold, and Heidinger was given these. Dehomag became a subsidiary of CTR (later IBM). It performed much better than IBM's other subsidiaries.
There were also IBM subsidiaries called Degemag, Optima, and Holgemag. They were merged into Dehomag in the early 1930s.
Dehomag got a contract to do the 1933 Prussian census via their lawyer Karl Koch
. Watson visited in 1933, and made a deal with Heidinger that allowed Dehomag to do business in territories that were already covered by other IBM subsidiaries.
The Nazi Party came to power in 1933. It banned foreign corporations from transmitting income back to their home countries. Dehomag's profits would sit in blocked bank accounts in for example Deutsche Bank und Disconto-Gesellschaft. However money did flow from Dehomag to IBM NY, in the form of 'royalty' payments (classified as a 'necessary expense').
In 1933 Heidinger claimed that Dehomag was working with the Sturmabteilung for the compilation of 'certain necessary statistics'
A new Dehomag factory was started up in 1934 at Lichterfelde. Attendants at opening included Watson's representative Walter Jones, Heidinger of Dehomag, Rudolf Schmeer of the German Labor Front, A Görlitzer of the Sturmabteilung
, directors of financial institutions, like the Reichsbank
, the Police, Post Office, Ministry of Defense, Reich Statistical Office, and Reichsbahn.
Applications included payroll, inventory, personnel, finance, scheduling, manufacturing supervision, and many others. Customers came from all over government and industry, including IG Farben
, Zeiss Ikon, Siemens
, Daimler-Benz
, Junkers
, Krupp
, Deutsche Bank
, public works departments, statistical offices, the Reichsbahn railroad, and many others.
Watson authorized a lawsuit by Heidinger against competitor punchcard company Powers, on the basis that Powers was not 'German' enough, something that was problematic in the days of the Nazis. In 1934 Powers lost the case.
Heidinger was enthusiastic about Hitler's plans. At the opening of a new IBM facility, he spoke of Hitler as a physician who would 'correct' the 'sick circumstances' of the 'German cultural body', by using Dehomag's statistical surveys of the population. Watson congratulated him on his speech.
In 1947 an attempt was made to change the name to IBM Germany. In East Germany Dehomag was not allowed to reincorporate and most of Dehomag's assets accumulated in the east of the Third Reich were nationalised. In contrast, in the western occupied zones a strong postwar Dehomag in the hands of a IBM was seen as desirable by the Allies for databases and administration as the cold war
began, and was indeed business as usual what with IBM systems in place in many areas of Western Allies' war theatre. By 1949, West Germany
was established and the name was changed to IBM Deutschland.
In May 1940 Germany invaded Holland. Dutch statistical expert Jacobus Lambertus Lentz (company motto: 'To Record is to Serve'), of the Dutch Population Registry, used IBM solutions to work on the Decree VO6/41 of 1941 which ordered all Jews to register at the census office. In 1941 IBM NY also sent 132 million punch cards to Holland.
In Dec 1941 (after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor
) the US entered the war, and IBM was legally restricted from doing business with its subsidiaries in enemy controlled territory. Holland's IBM subsidiary was custodied by H Garbrecht, who also custodied IBM's subsidiary in Belgium. When the Reich took machines from Holland for use elsewhere, Garbrecht ensured that these machines were properly counted so that IBM would be paid properly.
IBM had a rocky start as the 'rental' business model did not fit into Japanese business culture of the 1920s. Morimura Brothers tried to represent IBM but soon abandoned the idea. Kurosawa Trading became the representative from 1927 until 1937, when IBM opened an actual subsidiary. In the 1930s IBM had success with Japan Life Insurance and Imperial Life Insurance.
In 1937 Mr Holt and Mr Chevalerie visited and on their decision an actual subsidiary was formed in Yokohama. It was called Nihon Watson Tokei Kaikei Kikai (also called Nihon Watson Computing Machines,, Watson Tabulating Machines, or Japan Watson) and Chevalerie ran it until 1941. The same year it opened a manufacturer in Yokohama that would eventually make 'computer cards'. Japanese people were hired as managers and employees,especially as war approached. Card production was aided by advice from a man from Dehomag
In 1939 IBM Japan was involved in the aircraft business. In that year punch-card production actually came on line..
When Japan invaded Indochina (Vietnam) in 1940, IBM Japan helped IBM NY contact its Hanoi office, which had been out of touch.
As the US-Japan war approached, Japan's government restricted imports of IBM equipment as well as exports of royalty money. Chevalerie was replaced by Mizushina Ko. Its assets were frozen in mid 1941. IBM Japan, cut off from IBM NY, continued to maintain and collect rental payments during the war. It produced punch cards until 1943. Its customers included insurance companies, government agencies, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, the Japanese Army, and the Japanese Navy.
In 1942 it was declared an 'enemy company' and Jinushi Ennosuke became custodian. In 1943 Tokyo Electric (Toshiba
) bought its assets and business. Ennosuke put the money in the Yokohoma Specie Bank. Later on, Mitsubishi Trust became custodian.
Mizushina Ko was jailed on spy suspicions but later worked for the Navy who wanted help with coded communications. Ko worked at Kobe, where Japan held machines seized from occupied territories, including a tabulator the Americans lost to Japan at Corregidor
and one taken from Shanghai, China.
During the war, Toshiba formed JTM which started making its own punch cards. JTM and others also made copies of IBM machinery.
After the war ended in 1945, IBM negotiated with SCAP and others to get its property back. It also got 'royalty and dividends' money from JTM, for all the time JTM had been doing business with machinery it had seized from IBM. T. Kevin Mallen, IBM Far East General Manager, continued the process. IBM recovered the money Ennosuke had put away. IBM was still highly restricted by the Japanese government until a thaw circa the late 1950s.
Norway was one of the countries under sway of German Dehomag custodian Fellinger, who helped manager Jens Tellefson deal with the Reich.
IBM Norsk's offices were blown up by saboteurs attempting to disrupt the Nazi Labor Office's slave labor campaign. However, Tellefson had kept backups. The office was moved after this incident.
In 1939 (after the German and Soviet invasions of Poland), the business in Upper Silesia was given to IBM's German subsidiary, Dehomag. Watson Business Machines sp. z. o.o. was reincorporated as Watson Büromaschien GmbH, given a German manager, and given a new area to work in: what the Nazis called the 'General Government
' section of Poland. It had an account at the Handlowy Bank, Warsaw. In 1940 Watson gave the families of employees extra money.
Watson Büromaschien and Dehomag both worked with the Nazi government, especially the Maschinelles Berichtwesen. Dehomag was in charge of leasing, training, upkeep, and application design. Watson Büromaschien had its printing office at Rymarska 6, which wound up being right across the street from the Warsaw Ghetto
. It participated in the Dec 1939 census of Poland, which SD chief Heydrich wrote would be 'the basis for the evacuation' of Poles and Jews. These two companies also provided solutions to the railroads, which transported people to death camps.
After the war, IBM NY asked the State Department to protect its bank accounts in Bank Nadlowy, Bank Emosynjy, and the post office.
In the late 30s the Stalina Automobile Plant was a major user of IBM punch cards.
In 1937 (during the Stalin's Great Purge
) US ambassador Joseph E. Davies
appealed to the Soviet government on behalf of an IBM employee who was working there. He also wrote of IBM that "It has had a long-continued business relationship with different branches of the Soviet government, which relations, I understand, have always been pleasant."
When Germany overran the Soviet Union during Operation Barbarossa
, it seized spare parts from IBM machines that it found there.
IBM Geneva was run by Werner C. Lier. IBM NY internal investigations revealed Lier was lying and falsifying dates to cover up IBM Geneva trading with companies blacklisted by the State Department during the war. Lier was not fired. After the war, Lier tried to leave Geneva. He was denied a French transit visa and initially denied entry into the United States on grounds he was a danger to public safety. However Military Attache Barnwell Legge and Consul General Sam Woods helped him get around these problems and enter the US.
Black writes that IBM subsidiaries in neutral countries continued to supply cards to subsidiaries in enemy territory during the war. He also alleges that they traded with blacklisted companies and sometimes directly with Germany and Italy.
but lost contact. When Japan invaded Indochina in 1940, IBM Japan was able to help IBM NY contact the office again.
, who was a Dehomag advisor and affiliated with the Ustashi (pro-Nazis in Croatia, a part of Yugoslavia). Customers included the Yugoslav Army, Commerce Ministry, and Railroads. Machines were taken by the Reich and moved to Germany before the Soviets came to Yugoslavia as the war turned against Germany. Yugoslav Watson AG sent bills to the Reich, who remitted payments to them until 1945. After the war, the Nazi custodian gave a payment to US Army Property Control Officer Reed for transmittal to IBM NY. IBM also asked the State Department for help retrieving its assets and its money in Jugobank Belgrade.
, who, amongst other things, oversaw the holocaust in Hungary.
The US government banned US companies from dealing with subsidiaries in enemy territory during the war. It did this by many means, including the law known as General Rule 11. When that rule was lifted for a country, IBM frequently would ask for compensation claims for damaged equipment, it would often ask about company performance during the war for inclusion of employees into the Hundred Percent Club, and it would also try to secure the bank accounts that the subsidiary had used to store its money during the war.
The Soviets took machines from the part of Germany that they occupied back to the Soviet Union after the war.
In those early days, IBM had 70 foreign branches and subsidiaries worldwide. Competitors in the pre-WWII era included Remington Rand, Powers, Bull, NCR, Burroughs, and others.
European HQ
The European headquarters for IBM was originally in Paris. In 1935 Watson moved it to Geneva. The managers included Schotte, and later the controversial Werner Lier (see #Switzerland).Austria
IBM was represented in Austria by Furth & Company until 1933, when a direct subsidiary was created. IBM did the 1934 Austrian census. A card-printing plant was built later. Germany annexed Austria in 1938Anschluss
The Anschluss , also known as the ', was the occupation and annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany in 1938....
. In late May, Thomas J Watson went to Berlin and got IBM's German subsidiary, Dehomag
Dehomag
Dehomag was a German subsidiary of IBM with monopoly in the German market before and during World War II. The word was an acronym for Deutsche Hollerith-Maschinen Gesellschaft mbH . Hollerith refers to the German-American inventor of the technology of punched cards, Herman Hollerith.Under Nazi...
to replace IBM's Austrian subsidiary. Dehomag would go on to perform the May 1939 Reich Census, which included Austria and other areas Germany had invaded at the time.
Belgium
IBM's subsidiary in Belgium was named Watson Belge. The director was Emile Genon, formerly of BullBull
Bull usually refers to an uncastrated adult male bovine.Bull may also refer to:-Entertainment:* Bull , an original show on the TNT Network* "Bull" , an episode of television series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation...
, a competing punch-card firm. When the US entered the WWII in 1941 the company ownership was taken by the Nazi government and given to a custodian, H. Gabrecht, who also custodied the Holland subsidiary. He allowed Bosman and Galland to keep running the company, and he coordinated with Hermann Fellinger, custodian of Dehomag.
During the war the Nazi Maschinelles Berichtwesen department took machines from Belgium to use in other parts of the Reich. Custodian Gabrecht worked on the contracts for these takings, so that the owner, IBM NY, would eventually be properly paid for the machine's use.
Bulgaria
IBM's Bulgarian subsidiary was called Watson Business Machines Corporation, Ltd. It started in Sofia in March 1938. During the war, Germany invaded Bulgaria, thus it became illegal for IBM NY and IBM Geneva to transact with the subsidiary in 'enemy territory' (per General Ruling 11). In 1942 the Bulgarian government blocked payment from its railroads to the subsidiary, and bankruptcy threatened. Lier of IBM Geneva asked the State Department for help to get money to the subsidiary; State refused. By unknown means the subsidiary survived and continued to provide punch card based scheduling to the railroads. These railroads in 1943 helped deport Jewish people from Bulgaria-occupied Greece to concentration camps. After the war, in 1945, the subsidiary was again allowed to transact with IBM, which filed a war compensation claim and requested access to its Sofia bank accounts.Please also see: Holocaust in Bulgaria
China
IBM had an office in Shanghai. When Japan invaded during WWII, they took an IBM machine back to Kobe.Czechoslovakia
IBM opened an office in Prague circa 1933, a sales school in 1935, and a card printing plant soon after. A big customer was the Czechoslovakian State Railways. Schneider joined in 1937, moved to Berlin, and back to Prague in 1939. In the war, custodian Hermann Fellinger let E. Kuczek continue to run the company. The Czech subsidiary supplied cards to IBM's German subsidiary, Dehomag, while Dehomag supplied it equipment. The Nazis took some machines from Czechoslovakia to railways in the East, and Kuczek put the rental money in Prague Kreditbank.France
In 1919 CTR (which became IBM later) opened a sales office in Paris. In 1925 IBM France opened a factory and a branch. By 1932 it had 65 customers, including the Ministry of War. IBM France did not grow as fast as the other European subsidiaries. There were two competitors in those days, Powers and Bull. Watson moved on Bull by purchasing its Swiss rights and hiring away a Bull manager. Bull sued for unfair competition.In 1936 Compagnie Electro-Comptabe de France (CEC) was created. Its customers were mostly banks, railroad and the military. CEC grew and built many factories in France.
Germany invaded France in 1940. The Nazis (especially their Maschinelles Berichtwesen department) took hundreds of CEC's machines for use elsewhere in the Reich. Many of CEC's operations were moved, as was the paper CEC needed for punchcards. CEC almost became part of a planned Nazi competitor to IBM, but the plan fell through. CEC's Nazi Kommissar was an SS man named Westerholt.
At this time CEC had offices in French colonies such as Algeria, Casablanca, and Indochina. CEC also worked with Vichy France's Demographic Department to perform a census. However the department was run by René Carmille
René Carmille
René Carmille was a punched card expert and comptroller general of the French Army in the early 20th century. In World War II he was a double agent for the French Resistance and part of the Marco Polo Network. He ran the Demographics Department of Vichy and later the National Statistics Service...
, a secret agent of the French underground, who failed to punch the 'Jewish' hole on the census cards, and instead used his operation to mobilize French resistance troops in Algeria.
Germany
Main article: DehomagDehomag
Dehomag was a German subsidiary of IBM with monopoly in the German market before and during World War II. The word was an acronym for Deutsche Hollerith-Maschinen Gesellschaft mbH . Hollerith refers to the German-American inventor of the technology of punched cards, Herman Hollerith.Under Nazi...
Before World War I, when IBM was called CTR, it had a business in Germany. During that war, the German government seized the company as 'enemy property'. However, Germany's alien custody laws protected enemy assets via an Alien Property Custodian. Thus CTRs assets were returned to it in good condition after the war.
In 1922 there was a rival company named Dehomag, run by Willy Heidinger, who had brought Holleriths to Germany back in 1910. Dehomag licensed machines from CTR (later IBM). When Germany's currency suddenly lost almost all of its value due to the German inflation of the 1920s, Dehomag suddenly found itself owing enormous sums of money to CTR. Watson bought 90% of the shares of Dehomag. The remaining 10% of shares were 'specialized' with various rules to make it hard for them to be sold, and Heidinger was given these. Dehomag became a subsidiary of CTR (later IBM). It performed much better than IBM's other subsidiaries.
There were also IBM subsidiaries called Degemag, Optima, and Holgemag. They were merged into Dehomag in the early 1930s.
Dehomag got a contract to do the 1933 Prussian census via their lawyer Karl Koch
Karl Koch
Karl Koch is the name of:* Carl Koch , also spelled Karl Koch, German film director, writer* Carl Koch , American architect* Karl Koch , German botanist...
. Watson visited in 1933, and made a deal with Heidinger that allowed Dehomag to do business in territories that were already covered by other IBM subsidiaries.
The Nazi Party came to power in 1933. It banned foreign corporations from transmitting income back to their home countries. Dehomag's profits would sit in blocked bank accounts in for example Deutsche Bank und Disconto-Gesellschaft. However money did flow from Dehomag to IBM NY, in the form of 'royalty' payments (classified as a 'necessary expense').
In 1933 Heidinger claimed that Dehomag was working with the Sturmabteilung for the compilation of 'certain necessary statistics'
A new Dehomag factory was started up in 1934 at Lichterfelde. Attendants at opening included Watson's representative Walter Jones, Heidinger of Dehomag, Rudolf Schmeer of the German Labor Front, A Görlitzer of the Sturmabteilung
Sturmabteilung
The Sturmabteilung functioned as a paramilitary organization of the National Socialist German Workers' Party . It played a key role in Adolf Hitler's rise to power in the 1920s and 1930s...
, directors of financial institutions, like the Reichsbank
Reichsbank
The Reichsbank was the central bank of Germany from 1876 until 1945. It was founded on 1 January 1876 . The Reichsbank was a privately owned central bank of Prussia, under close control by the Reich government. Its first president was Hermann von Dechend...
, the Police, Post Office, Ministry of Defense, Reich Statistical Office, and Reichsbahn.
Applications included payroll, inventory, personnel, finance, scheduling, manufacturing supervision, and many others. Customers came from all over government and industry, including IG Farben
IG Farben
I.G. Farbenindustrie AG was a German chemical industry conglomerate. Its name is taken from Interessen-Gemeinschaft Farbenindustrie AG . The company was formed in 1925 from a number of major companies that had been working together closely since World War I...
, Zeiss Ikon, Siemens
Siemens
Siemens may refer toSiemens, a German family name carried by generations of telecommunications industrialists, including:* Werner von Siemens , inventor, founder of Siemens AG...
, Daimler-Benz
Daimler-Benz
Daimler-Benz AG was a German manufacturer of automobiles, motor vehicles, and internal combustion engines; founded in 1926. An Agreement of Mutual Interest - which was valid until year 2000 - was signed on 1 May 1924 between Karl Benz's Benz & Cie., and Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft, which had...
, Junkers
Junkers
Junkers Flugzeug- und Motorenwerke AG , more commonly Junkers, was a major German aircraft manufacturer. It produced some of the world's most innovative and best-known airplanes over the course of its fifty-plus year history in Dessau, Germany. It was founded there in 1895 by Hugo Junkers,...
, Krupp
Krupp
The Krupp family , a prominent 400-year-old German dynasty from Essen, have become famous for their steel production and for their manufacture of ammunition and armaments. The family business, known as Friedrich Krupp AG Hoesch-Krupp, was the largest company in Europe at the beginning of the 20th...
, Deutsche Bank
Deutsche Bank
Deutsche Bank AG is a global financial service company with its headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany. It employs more than 100,000 people in over 70 countries, and has a large presence in Europe, the Americas, Asia Pacific and the emerging markets...
, public works departments, statistical offices, the Reichsbahn railroad, and many others.
Watson authorized a lawsuit by Heidinger against competitor punchcard company Powers, on the basis that Powers was not 'German' enough, something that was problematic in the days of the Nazis. In 1934 Powers lost the case.
Heidinger was enthusiastic about Hitler's plans. At the opening of a new IBM facility, he spoke of Hitler as a physician who would 'correct' the 'sick circumstances' of the 'German cultural body', by using Dehomag's statistical surveys of the population. Watson congratulated him on his speech.
In 1947 an attempt was made to change the name to IBM Germany. In East Germany Dehomag was not allowed to reincorporate and most of Dehomag's assets accumulated in the east of the Third Reich were nationalised. In contrast, in the western occupied zones a strong postwar Dehomag in the hands of a IBM was seen as desirable by the Allies for databases and administration as the cold war
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
began, and was indeed business as usual what with IBM systems in place in many areas of Western Allies' war theatre. By 1949, West Germany
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
was established and the name was changed to IBM Deutschland.
Holland / Netherlands
IBM did a very large amount of business in Holland (for example opening a card printing plant in 1936) but did not incorporate a subsidiary until Mar 1940. This was Watson Bedrijfsmachine Maatschappij N.V. of 34 Frederiksplein, Amsterdam.In May 1940 Germany invaded Holland. Dutch statistical expert Jacobus Lambertus Lentz (company motto: 'To Record is to Serve'), of the Dutch Population Registry, used IBM solutions to work on the Decree VO6/41 of 1941 which ordered all Jews to register at the census office. In 1941 IBM NY also sent 132 million punch cards to Holland.
In Dec 1941 (after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor, known to Hawaiians as Puuloa, is a lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands is a United States Navy deep-water naval base. It is also the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet...
) the US entered the war, and IBM was legally restricted from doing business with its subsidiaries in enemy controlled territory. Holland's IBM subsidiary was custodied by H Garbrecht, who also custodied IBM's subsidiary in Belgium. When the Reich took machines from Holland for use elsewhere, Garbrecht ensured that these machines were properly counted so that IBM would be paid properly.
Italy
The Italian subsidiary was named Watson Italiana. During the war it coordinated its work with Fellinger, custodian of German subsidiary Dehomag.Japan
IBM entered the Japanese market in the 1925 and supplied adding machines to Mitsubishi Shipbuilding. Its competitor was Powers Tabulating Machine (via the Mitsumi Trading Company). Powers (later Remington Rand) would remain a stiff competitor, preferred by the Japanese government, until after WWII..IBM had a rocky start as the 'rental' business model did not fit into Japanese business culture of the 1920s. Morimura Brothers tried to represent IBM but soon abandoned the idea. Kurosawa Trading became the representative from 1927 until 1937, when IBM opened an actual subsidiary. In the 1930s IBM had success with Japan Life Insurance and Imperial Life Insurance.
In 1937 Mr Holt and Mr Chevalerie visited and on their decision an actual subsidiary was formed in Yokohama. It was called Nihon Watson Tokei Kaikei Kikai (also called Nihon Watson Computing Machines,, Watson Tabulating Machines, or Japan Watson) and Chevalerie ran it until 1941. The same year it opened a manufacturer in Yokohama that would eventually make 'computer cards'. Japanese people were hired as managers and employees,especially as war approached. Card production was aided by advice from a man from Dehomag
In 1939 IBM Japan was involved in the aircraft business. In that year punch-card production actually came on line..
When Japan invaded Indochina (Vietnam) in 1940, IBM Japan helped IBM NY contact its Hanoi office, which had been out of touch.
As the US-Japan war approached, Japan's government restricted imports of IBM equipment as well as exports of royalty money. Chevalerie was replaced by Mizushina Ko. Its assets were frozen in mid 1941. IBM Japan, cut off from IBM NY, continued to maintain and collect rental payments during the war. It produced punch cards until 1943. Its customers included insurance companies, government agencies, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, the Japanese Army, and the Japanese Navy.
In 1942 it was declared an 'enemy company' and Jinushi Ennosuke became custodian. In 1943 Tokyo Electric (Toshiba
Toshiba
is a multinational electronics and electrical equipment corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. It is a diversified manufacturer and marketer of electrical products, spanning information & communications equipment and systems, Internet-based solutions and services, electronic components and...
) bought its assets and business. Ennosuke put the money in the Yokohoma Specie Bank. Later on, Mitsubishi Trust became custodian.
Mizushina Ko was jailed on spy suspicions but later worked for the Navy who wanted help with coded communications. Ko worked at Kobe, where Japan held machines seized from occupied territories, including a tabulator the Americans lost to Japan at Corregidor
Corregidor
Corregidor Island, locally called Isla ng Corregidor, is a lofty island located at the entrance of Manila Bay in southwestern part of Luzon Island in the Philippines. Due to this location, Corregidor was fortified with several coastal artillery and ammunition magazines to defend the entrance of...
and one taken from Shanghai, China.
During the war, Toshiba formed JTM which started making its own punch cards. JTM and others also made copies of IBM machinery.
After the war ended in 1945, IBM negotiated with SCAP and others to get its property back. It also got 'royalty and dividends' money from JTM, for all the time JTM had been doing business with machinery it had seized from IBM. T. Kevin Mallen, IBM Far East General Manager, continued the process. IBM recovered the money Ennosuke had put away. IBM was still highly restricted by the Japanese government until a thaw circa the late 1950s.
Norway
The subsidiary in Norway was called IBM Norsk. Before the war, its stock ownership was put under Norwegian and other non-American men, to avoid Nazi anger (and possible takeover) after Watson's rejection of a medal Hitler had given him in the late 30s.Norway was one of the countries under sway of German Dehomag custodian Fellinger, who helped manager Jens Tellefson deal with the Reich.
IBM Norsk's offices were blown up by saboteurs attempting to disrupt the Nazi Labor Office's slave labor campaign. However, Tellefson had kept backups. The office was moved after this incident.
Poland
IBM originally did not have a subsidiary in Poland but instead was represented by the Block-Brun agency. In 1934 Watson formed a subsidiary, Polski Hollerith. Black claims this was to compete with the Powers Corporation which had just gotten the Polish post office contract. In 1935 an office was started in Katowice in the Upper Silesia area of Poland. A card printing facility was setup in Warsaw. In 1937 Polski Hollerith was renamed Watson Business Machines sp. z. o.o. Customers included the Polish Postal Service, Polish Ministry of Railroads, and about 25 others.In 1939 (after the German and Soviet invasions of Poland), the business in Upper Silesia was given to IBM's German subsidiary, Dehomag. Watson Business Machines sp. z. o.o. was reincorporated as Watson Büromaschien GmbH, given a German manager, and given a new area to work in: what the Nazis called the 'General Government
General Government
The General Government was an area of Second Republic of Poland under Nazi German rule during World War II; designated as a separate region of the Third Reich between 1939–1945...
' section of Poland. It had an account at the Handlowy Bank, Warsaw. In 1940 Watson gave the families of employees extra money.
Watson Büromaschien and Dehomag both worked with the Nazi government, especially the Maschinelles Berichtwesen. Dehomag was in charge of leasing, training, upkeep, and application design. Watson Büromaschien had its printing office at Rymarska 6, which wound up being right across the street from the Warsaw Ghetto
Warsaw Ghetto
The Warsaw Ghetto was the largest of all Jewish Ghettos in Nazi-occupied Europe during World War II. It was established in the Polish capital between October and November 15, 1940, in the territory of General Government of the German-occupied Poland, with over 400,000 Jews from the vicinity...
. It participated in the Dec 1939 census of Poland, which SD chief Heydrich wrote would be 'the basis for the evacuation' of Poles and Jews. These two companies also provided solutions to the railroads, which transported people to death camps.
After the war, IBM NY asked the State Department to protect its bank accounts in Bank Nadlowy, Bank Emosynjy, and the post office.
Romania
IBM's Romanian subsidiary was Compania Electrocontabila Watson, incorporated in 1938 in Bucharest. Its customers included railroads, census, statistics offices, and the communication ministry. Bucharest had an IBM Swift Press card printing facility as well. The company helped the Romanian Central Statistical Institute in the Romanian Census of 1941 April, including the special 'Jewish census'. A problem occurred when there were not enough machines to do the job. Lier, with the help of US Commercial Attache Sam Woods and the Romanian Commercial Attache, got the Nazi government (including the Devisenstelle) to ship some machines from German-occupied Poland to Romania. The census proceeded. In Dec 1941 the US entered the war and Romania came under General Rule 11 so interaction with IBM NY and IBM Geneva was restricted. After the war in 1945 IBM submitted requests to the State Department to secure its Romanian bank accounts, and sent compensation claims for damaged equipment.Russia / Soviet Union
Hollerith got a contract to work on the Russian census of Tsar Nicholas II in 1896. His Tabulating Machine Company would later become CTR, then IBM.In the late 30s the Stalina Automobile Plant was a major user of IBM punch cards.
In 1937 (during the Stalin's Great Purge
Great Purge
The Great Purge was a series of campaigns of political repression and persecution in the Soviet Union orchestrated by Joseph Stalin from 1936 to 1938...
) US ambassador Joseph E. Davies
Joseph E. Davies
Joseph Edward Davies was appointed by President Wilson to be Commissioner of Corporations in 1912, and First Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission in 1915. He was the second Ambassador to represent the United States in the Soviet Union and U.S. Ambassador to Belgium and Luxembourg...
appealed to the Soviet government on behalf of an IBM employee who was working there. He also wrote of IBM that "It has had a long-continued business relationship with different branches of the Soviet government, which relations, I understand, have always been pleasant."
When Germany overran the Soviet Union during Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the code name for Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that began on 22 June 1941. Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a front., the largest invasion in the history of warfare...
, it seized spare parts from IBM machines that it found there.
- See also: Five-Year Plans for the National Economy of the Soviet Union#Information technology
Sweden
The Swedish subsidiary was called Svenska Watson. It sold paper cards to other subsidiaries in 1939.Switzerland
In 1935, European IBM Headquarters switched from Paris to Geneva.IBM Geneva was run by Werner C. Lier. IBM NY internal investigations revealed Lier was lying and falsifying dates to cover up IBM Geneva trading with companies blacklisted by the State Department during the war. Lier was not fired. After the war, Lier tried to leave Geneva. He was denied a French transit visa and initially denied entry into the United States on grounds he was a danger to public safety. However Military Attache Barnwell Legge and Consul General Sam Woods helped him get around these problems and enter the US.
Black writes that IBM subsidiaries in neutral countries continued to supply cards to subsidiaries in enemy territory during the war. He also alleges that they traded with blacklisted companies and sometimes directly with Germany and Italy.
Vietnam
French IBM ran IBM's office in HanoiHanoi
Hanoi , is the capital of Vietnam and the country's second largest city. Its population in 2009 was estimated at 2.6 million for urban districts, 6.5 million for the metropolitan jurisdiction. From 1010 until 1802, it was the most important political centre of Vietnam...
but lost contact. When Japan invaded Indochina in 1940, IBM Japan was able to help IBM NY contact the office again.
Yugoslavia
Subsidiary Yugoslav Watson AG began before WWII. It was put under a Nazi custodian during the war. V Bajkic kept running the company. He coordinated with Edmund VeesenmayerEdmund Veesenmayer
Edmund Veesenmayer was a German politician, officer and war criminal. He significantly contributed to The Holocaust in Hungary and Croatia...
, who was a Dehomag advisor and affiliated with the Ustashi (pro-Nazis in Croatia, a part of Yugoslavia). Customers included the Yugoslav Army, Commerce Ministry, and Railroads. Machines were taken by the Reich and moved to Germany before the Soviets came to Yugoslavia as the war turned against Germany. Yugoslav Watson AG sent bills to the Reich, who remitted payments to them until 1945. After the war, the Nazi custodian gave a payment to US Army Property Control Officer Reed for transmittal to IBM NY. IBM also asked the State Department for help retrieving its assets and its money in Jugobank Belgrade.
German Alien property laws and World War II
Germany operated under a system of 'alien property laws' and 'custodianship' during times of war. That is, if an enemy of a foreign company owned property in Germany (or, in addition, in countries Germany had taken over) during a war, Germany's government would appoint a 'custodian' to look after the company and its property. After the war, the company and its assets were to be returned to its owner. This in fact had already happened to Mr Thomas J Watson during World War I. And as World War II began, a similar regime came into being, with the Nazi government of Germany appointing custodians over foreign companies, including IBM. There were also sometimes management changes. For example, IBM's German subsidiary Dehomag got the notable Dr Edmund VeesenmayerEdmund Veesenmayer
Edmund Veesenmayer was a German politician, officer and war criminal. He significantly contributed to The Holocaust in Hungary and Croatia...
, who, amongst other things, oversaw the holocaust in Hungary.
The US government banned US companies from dealing with subsidiaries in enemy territory during the war. It did this by many means, including the law known as General Rule 11. When that rule was lifted for a country, IBM frequently would ask for compensation claims for damaged equipment, it would often ask about company performance during the war for inclusion of employees into the Hundred Percent Club, and it would also try to secure the bank accounts that the subsidiary had used to store its money during the war.
After 1945
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The Soviets took machines from the part of Germany that they occupied back to the Soviet Union after the war.