Appropriating American Technology in the 1960s: Cold War Politics and the GDR Computer Industry

Donig, Simon

doi:10.1109/mahc.2010.6

Cited by 42 publications

(4 citation statements)

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“…The program's main goal was to develop a competitive computer, the Robotron 300. Parallel to establishing hardware production, the party deployed concepts for the implementation of computers in different sectors of state and economy [4], [11, p. 38].…”

Section: Computerization For Socialist Progress: the Electronic Data ...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Eventually, the Institute's economists put three machines on the shortlist: An ICT 1301 from the British manufacturer International Computers and Tabulators, a computer famous for the complicated task of British currency calculations; a Bull Gamma 30 from the French Compagnie des Machines Bull, which was a rebranded RCA 301 in use in several banks all over Western Europe; and finally, an NCR 315 by the U.S. based National Cash Register, known for its sophisticated error-handling and the use of thin film memory as storage. 4 All the machines were competitors of IBMs 1401 in size, speed and price. Therefore, it is more than remarkable that IBM computers did not even get into top three.…”

Section: Why Did the Ministry Of Finance Decide On An American Computer?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…I am providing evidence through the analysis of so-far unknown documents from German archives and various oral history interviews with key figures of the computer center of the Ministry of Finance. This exclusive material allows me to suggest a different perspective on the import procedures of Eastern European countries in the 1960s [4]. It also deepens our knowledge on recent questions of the history of computing, like computer technology and knowledge transfer [5,6], early digital technology [7], knowledge acquisition through training [8], communities of practice of programmers [9,10] and alternative paths to the digital age beyond system borders.…”

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confidence: 93%

“…Fourthly, the Ministry of Finance did not acquire an IBM computer but one from Remington Rand, an early competitor of IBM. So far, historians have often highlighted an early dominance of IBM in the East Bloc [4]. The exemplary fact that officials chose a Remington machine questions the current state of knowledge about imported computers in the Eastern Block.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Socialist Life of a U.S. Army Computer in the GDR’s Financial Sector

Schmitt

2019

Histories of Computing in Eastern Europe

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This article investigates the role of the first digital computer in the GDR's socialist financial system. Why did the GDR's Ministry of Finance import a Univac computer from the U.S. army in 1965, even though the country aimed at computational autarky and was restricted by embargo? The main argument is that the Ministry of Finance imported the computer to kickstart its program for electronic data processing. They succeeded because they not only imported a machine, but also reframed it ideologically. They drew on the notion of the computer as a universal machine and adapted it to local conditions. The process hints to the ambiguity of the later decision of the East Bloc toward copying IBM's system architecture. This article investigates this process by following the traces of an early computer and the ideas surrounding it through the Iron Curtain. It stresses the role of early computer users with the example of GDR's financial system in contrast to better known producer stories. Through the analysis of exclusive material, this is suggesting a different perspective on the import procedures of Eastern European countries in the Cold War. A policy change in the Cold War towards détente becomes visible as early as in 1965.

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Section: Computerization For Socialist Progress: the Electronic Data ...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Why Did the Ministry Of Finance Decide On An American Computer?mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 93%

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confidence: 99%

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