This probably won’t be good news over at IBM, as they don’t exactly trump their links to Nazi Germany in their press releases, but Brad Pitt’s Production Company is backing an adaptation of Edwin Black’s 2001 non-fiction tome, IBM and The Holocaust, according to Vulture.
While IBM is now known as a computer giant, back in the Nazi era it dealt in pre-computer business technology and in 1933 IBM CEO Thomas Watson formed an alliance with Nazi Germany and created a punch card system that allowed the fascists an easier way to sort through German census information and learn which of the citizens were of Jewish descent. It’s believed that the technology that Watson gave the Nazis allowed them to cross-reference data about 66 million people living in Germany, and quickly and ruthlessly identify, tax, ghettoize, deport, and ultimately exterminate six million Jews.
Of course, Watson didn’t know that would be the final outcome, but it’s certainly a terrible black mark against the company. Pitt is currently just attached to produce, but may also star. While the project was previously set up at HBO (before Pitt became involved), it’s currently looking for a new home.