Sunday, November 23, 2008

Nazi-era graduate receives PhD, 65 years later

An 88-year-old man who has been living in the United States since World War II has returned to Berlin to receive a university degree which was denied to him 65 years ago.

In 1943 Dmitri Stein, a student of Berlin's Technical University, submitted his doctoral thesis on the stability of electrical circuits.

It was rejected, not because of the content, but because of the author's ancestry, after the university discovered Mr Stein's father was Jewish.

Denied a doctorate, he hid from the Nazis, fled Germany and escaped to America, but 65 years on, the university has relented.

At the age of 88, Mr Stein was invited back to Berlin to present his thesis and has finally been awarded his PhD.

Source: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/11/22/2427056.htm?section=justin

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