Curt Herzstark bio
Herzstark starts building precision machines for the Nazis in 1938
There was a will from 1913 and my parents each left everything to the other partner so that there could be no dispute. This will was still in existence but my mother did not want to use it. Instead she suggested, "You get the factory and your brother Ernst, will get the cinema and I will receive a pension from each of you." That was '37, '38 and we... See more
Curt Herzstark • An Interview with Curt Herzstark
and then, the nazis.
HERZSTARK: Yes, we had our basic four function machines. This machine, our machine, could automatically multiply and divide. But we did not produce large numbers of machines because we did not have the capital. We also had electric machines of which we produced about 10-12 in a month. Then we had the Astra to sell and then, of course, the... See more
Curt Herzstark • An Interview with Curt Herzstark
so interesting to think of the calculator as replacing human labor —> nice way to connect this all to our present moment.
HERZSTARK: It would be too much [and range too far] if I were to tell you all of the details, then I would have to relive the hours until I came to Buchenwald. So, in any case, how I was delivered in Bochum is a really terrible story. I was already spiritually at zero [seelisch am Nullpunckt], and then I came to this so called "small camp". I can... See more
Curt Herzstark • An Interview with Curt Herzstark
Already in 1926-27 while I was in sales, people said again and again, "Yes, that is nice, but isn't there anything smaller?" This was a time when there was a lot of advertising of the calculating machine. Everyone who was a technician, carried his slide rule. But for calculating, the equivalent didn't exist. People again and again said, "Does... See more
Curt Herzstark • An Interview with Curt Herzstark
his approach to designing the calculator - look at everything backwards .
this whole story exists by looking backwards - we look back in time to find him and his story.
broadly, ideas around time and progress seem to be perking up again and again
But in '43 two people from our factory were arrested and one was decapitated. They had listened to English radio stations and transcribed the broadcasts on a typewriter and passed it on. This was discovered because of the typed copy. The typewriter was identified and the owner, he was one of our mechanics, his name was Zur, he was beheaded. The... See more
Curt Herzstark • An Interview with Curt Herzstark
jesus
and then I was sent to Buchenwald. There, in the very first weeks, I was put in a work unit where I believed I would be buried.
Curt Herzstark • An Interview with Curt Herzstark
HERZSTARK: The second war... yes, yes. My father had owned, by the way, a movie theater for many years. As
Curt Herzstark • An Interview with Curt Herzstark
his dad bought a movie theater!
The following was the result: one of the customers of the Glogowski company was a banker by the name of Gustav Perger and he often visited the company. He became familiar with my father, of whom he had a very good opinion, and he suggested that they set up a factory for the production of calculating machines together. In fact he had an ulterior... See more
Curt Herzstark • An Interview with Curt Herzstark
origins of Herzstark’s dad running the Austrian Calculating Machines Manufacturing Company