WATSON
Watson is a play by James Grippando based on the true story of Nazi use of IBM technology in the Holocaust. It is also a play by Kate Gamble, an aspiring playwright and the fictional protagonist of James’ thirtieth novel, Code 6, a thriller set in the modern world of Big Data. Read Watson and Code 6 for a unique reading experience!
Based on events in the life of IBM founder Thomas J. Watson Sr., “Watson” is a dramatic play in which the true story of Nazi exploitation of IBM technology unfolds, shedding light on the world’s first personal information catastrophe: the systematic identification of Jews for extermination. In 1937, Watson became the first American to receive the Merit Cross, one of the highest honors Adolph Hitler ever bestowed on a non-German. Not until June 1940—and only after intense pressure from friends and Jewish leaders—did Watson return the medal.
But why? Business reasons? Social pressures? Or was it genuinely an act of courage and conscience?
“Watson” is the first-ever dramatization of this historic collision between morality and capitalism, brought to life through Watson’s explosive relationship with his son, Thomas J. Watson Jr., who followed in his father’s footsteps to become, in the words of Fortune magazine, “the greatest capitalist who ever lived.” Meticulously researched and expertly spun, Watson unveils the darkest secrets in the dawn of Big Data, brought to life as only the winner of the Harper Lee Prize could imagine.
Watson – Behind the Play
The tech world’s joke about the data-mining business model—“if the product is free, you are the product”—is more true than funny. Yet, most people simply accept one data breach after another, continuing to shovel personal information into the insatiable maw of social media.
They Like it.
Maybe they would feel differently if they knew something about the world’s first personal information catastrophe.
I started writing Watson as the world approached the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the most notorious of Nazi death camps, Auschwitz (Jan. 27, 1945), Bergen-Belsen, Dachau, Buchenwald, and others (April 1945). Holocaust scholars have documented the “punch card” systems, precursors to computer technology, which the Nazis used to impressive and horrifying effect—not only in the war against the Allies but in the genocidal campaign against Jews and other minorities. Punch-card systems were the technology behind the Holocaust, the electro-mechanical machines that Hitler’s Third Reich needed to accomplish what had never been done before: the automation of genocide. These punch cards were created from personal information (religion, Jewish ancestry) that millions of Jewish “heads of household” provided voluntarily in censuses conducted by the Third Reich in the 1930s.
In 21st Century parlance, they Liked it.
IBM (the parent company) denies any complicity in the actions of its German subsidiary (Dehomag). Nonetheless, historians have been critical of IBM’s first CEO, Thomas J. Watson, Sr. “His optimism and his sense of accomplishment blinded him to any downside,” wrote one biographer. “[Watson] didn’t see the Nazis for what they were. He saw them, for he wanted them to be.” K. Maney, The Maverick and His Machine: Thomas Watson, Sr. and the Making of IBM at p. 207 (2007).
In June 1937, Watson became president of the International Chamber of Commerce, urging “world peace through world trade.” At the same ICC congress, held in Berlin, Watson became the first American to receive the Merit Cross, the highest honor Adolph Hitler had (up until that point) ever bestowed on a non-German. Only Henry Ford received a higher honor. The following year, Kristallnacht turned Nazi violence against Jews into worldwide news. By the end of 1939, Poland had fallen, and France and England were at war with Germany. By April 1940, Polish Jews were being herded into ghettos for eventual transport to concentration camps, and by May 1940, British troops were literally running for their lives on the beaches of Dunkirk.
Finally, in June 1940—almost three years after the award and only at the urging of friends and the demand of prominent Jewish Americans—Watson returned the Merit Cross to Hitler.
But why? Business reasons? Social pressures? Or was it truly an act of courage and conscience?
Historians continue to debate those questions with no clear answer. What is clear, however, is the enduring relevance of the loss of personal information at the hands of powerful corporations and governments.
I first heard about the Nazi’s use of punch card technology in 2001, when a class action lawsuit was filed against IBM (Grossman v. IBM). I was already an established novelist, but I never considered writing on the subject until Joseph Adler, long-time Producing Artistic Director at GableStage, asked me to write a play about it. After extensive research and script rewrites, “Watson” made its world premiere at GableStage in Coral Gables, Florida, in November 2019. It ran for 35 sold-out performances over the next five weeks. As things turned out, it was the last play to be both developed and directed by Joseph Adler, a regional-theatre lion for decades. Joe was too ill to attend the opening night performance and passed away in February 2020.
Propelled by Joe’s vision, Watson stands as the first-ever dramatization of this historic collision between morality and capitalism, brought to life through Watson’s explosive relationship with his son, Thomas J. Watson, Jr., who followed in his father’s footsteps to become, in the words of Fortune magazine, “the greatest capitalist who ever lived.” I hope you will enjoy reading the script. I hope that someday you’ll have a chance to see the play live and onstage.
I’m not sure how I’ll feel if you Like it.
