By Ron Coates, 30 March 2001 12:00
NEWS The suit, filed in a federal court in New York, alleged that executives who ran IBM during the 1930s and 1940s equipped the Nazi government for its persecution of the Jewish community and other religious and ethnic minorities. IBM has never been served with the suit and according to the New York Times it was abandoned over fears that it could delay compensation payments to more than a million slave labourers and other victims of Nazi policies. Last year German industry agreed a $4.5bn payment to slave labourers, but under the settlement, the money cannot be paid until there is 'legal peace' in the US. The suit was launched last month after publication of a book alleging that the company's punch card technology had helped organise the mass persecution in Nazi Germany. IBM claimed the suit had no merit. There is still one outstanding US suit blocking the compensation payments. This was also filed in New York against German banks for their role in stealing Jewish property under the Nazis.
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