Cohen, Milstein, Hausfeld & Toll, P.L.L.C.
Files Class Action Lawsuit Against IBM

February 11, 2001 --- Five Holocaust victims from the United States, the Czech Republic and the Ukraine yesterday filed a class action lawsuit against International Business Machines, Inc., (IBM), in New York, on behalf of all concentration camp survivors of the Holocaust.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court for the Eastern District of New York, targets IBM, the largest computer company in the world, for aiding and abetting crimes against humanity and violations of human rights. Plaintiffs assert that IBM provided the technology, products and services that catalogued concentration camp victims and substantially aided the persecution, suffering and genocide experienced in the camps before and during World War II. As well, information about Jews and others was recorded, tabulated and sorted by IBM equipment for purposes of perpetuating slave labor and extermination. Plaintiffs also assert that not only did the company profit from this conduct, it has refused to permit historians and others access to archival records evidencing its complicit role in the Holocaust.

Michael D. Hausfeld, a partner at Cohen, Milstein, Hausfeld & Toll, P.L.L.C., is the lead attorney for the plaintiffs, he was co-lead counsel in the recent case against the Swiss Banks that resulted in a settlement by the banks for $ 1.25 billion and one of the principal architects in the recent slave labor lawsuit settlement for$5 billion. According to Mr. Hausfeld, "IBM in the United States profited from the Third Reich's use of IBM technology, equipment and services used in the concentration camps. Hitler could not have so quickly and efficiently identified and rounded up Jews and other minorities, used them as slave laborers and ultimately exterminated them, without IBM's assistance."

Suzette M. Malveaux, Esq., also of Cohen, Milstein, Hausfeld & Toll stated, "We know that IBM equipment and expertise was used in concentration camps and that IBM knew this. Our lawsuit shows that in Dachau alone there were 24 IBM sorters, tabulators and printers. In order to fulfill the Nazi racial "final solution," IBM's interactive technology and guidance was essential. IBM technicians actually sat down with their clients, and developed the punch cards, trained them how to use the machines, and visited them regularly to service the equipment. Here, the client was the Nazi government."

The lawsuit asks that IBM USA admit to their violation of human rights, that they open their corporate archives and business records to historians, and that they disgorge all profits made from their service to the Nazis during WWII to a Holocaust relief fund.

Michael Hausfeld will be available to the media on Monday morning (2-12-01) at 10:00 A.M. EST in the Washington, D.C. office of the firm, or via phone, regarding the IBM case filed this weekend. The domestic call-in number is 800/752-1361, the international number is 415/217-0050. The call can be referenced under the "Hausfeld" call. A copy of the complaint will be on the law firm's website Monday morning, www.cmht.com

Cohen, Milstein, Hausfeld & Toll, P.L.L.C. has played a lead role in prosecuting cases on behalf of victims of the Holocaust. The firm has offices in Washington, D.C. and Seattle and is active in major litigation pending in federal and state courts throughout the nation.

Attorneys Morris Ratner and Caryn Becker of Lieff, Cabraser, Heimann & Bernstein, L.L.P. and Myroslaw Smorodsky, of Smorodsky & Stawnychy, are also serving as counsel in this case.

For more information, please contact us at lawinfo@cmht.com.

Editor's Note: Burlington Web Magazine does not necessarily support, endorse, or understand the point of suing I.B.M. America for any wrong-doing or alledged wrong-doing of IBM Germany. It seems questionable whether I.B.M. even knew what the computer equipment would be used for. And even if IBM in Germany knew, did IBM America know? So one could wonder, "what is the point of suing IBM America for something that happened about 60 years ago in Germany?"