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While going through the memoirs of a witness of the Holocaust in Germany, I stumbled upon the passage:

there in Rudolfstadt we had a new holorydmachine from the Americans - in the barn of a farmer - to calculate the salaries of the officers.

It must have been around the time the war ended. Also I think it had to be huge as it was not in a regular room but in a barn (at that time barns were at least 4m high, but normal rooms only 2,2m).

What are holorydmachines?

Any information or hints are welcome, as this witness can no longer be questioned.

Marco
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    Hollerith is the keyword you are looking for. Herman the name. One of the four early roots of IBM – tofro Feb 20 '19 at 13:38
  • @tofro I would not have guessed that but that seems like a very good guess. More information at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herman_Hollerith and https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hollerith_card – tripleee Feb 20 '19 at 13:41

1 Answers1

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Apparently, you are looking for Herman Hollerith and his Tabular Machines. Hollerith was the first to use punched cards for data storage (there were punched cards and tape before, but were mainly used to control machines).

The US-American census of 1890 was the first to massively use punched cards for data storage and statistical calculation based on Hollerith's machines. (The pure storage mechanism later evolved into support for mechanical addition and subtraction of stored and counted figures, so a precursor of a mechanical computer). Such early machines were commonly called "Hollerith-Maschinen".

Herman Hollerith's company, The Tabulating Machine Company is one of the four roots of today's IBM.

When looking for German IBM during WWII, you might want to read the Wikipedia article on DEHOMAG (Deutsche Hollerith-Maschinen Gesellschaft mbH)- So "from the Americans" is probably a bit far-fetched. During the war, IBM machines for Germany were produced under the DEHOMAG label (an IBM subsidiary) in Berlin-Lichterfelde and Sindelfingen (near Stuttgart).

tofro
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