A DEHOMAG D11 Tabulating Machine, Berlin, 1936–1945
A D11 tabulator built by Deutsche Hollerith-Maschinen GmbH, IBM's German subsidiary, now in the Technische Sammlungen Dresden. Machines of this type sorted punched cards for the German census and for the registration systems built on it.
Punched-card tabulation did not create Nazi persecution, but it changed what was administratively possible. A census could be cross-tabulated by religion, descent and address in weeks rather than years; registers could be merged; a list could be produced on demand. DEHOMAG leased rather than sold its machines and serviced them under contract, which is why the relationship between the American parent and its German subsidiary has been argued over ever since. See how IBM's punch card technology enabled Nazi bureaucratic control.
CC BY-SA 4.0 — source (Wikimedia Commons). Free to reuse under the stated licence.
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