Remembering the Past to Inform the Future: Engineering and the Holocaust

This paper examines the complicity of the engineering community in the Holocaust, specifically, the eradication of individuals deemed undesirable by the German government.Without the cooperation of professionals on both sides of the Atlantic, the Holocaust could not have happened.The paper explores the role of key German engineering firms, such as I. G. Farben and Topf und Soehne; American involvement by the Ford Motor Company and IBM; and offers pedagogical suggestions for integrating Holocaust materials into engineering and technology classes.While this topic is disturbing, it is important that engineering educators arm their students with knowledge of this emotionally wrenching period in history.Knowing the past may result in a brighter future.