crandc
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http://time.com/3858703/102-doctorate-nazi/
At 102 years old, Dr. Ingeborg Rapoport finally defended her PhD thesis at the University of Hamburg. In 1938 she wrote her thesis on prevention and treatment of diphtheria, then a big childhood killer. Her professor told her she could not defend it. Although raised Protestant her mother was Jewish, which under Nuremberg laws made her Jewish, and Jews were not allowed to receive degrees. She fled Germany penniless, and came to the US, where she applied to over 40 medical schools before finding one that would admit her (a women’s college). She married a scientist and they settled down to work and raise a family. They had 3 children and another on the way when they faced blacklisting due to their membership in the Communist Party. They returned to Europe, where she continued to live after her husband’s death. The University of Hamburg was ready to grant an honorary degree but she wanted the real one. Her work was long since lost, so she wrote a new thesis on scientific advances in diphtheria over the past 70 years. Having successfully defended her thesis, she will get her doctorate June 9, the oldest person on record.
Mozel tov to Doctor (twice over) Rapoport.
At 102 years old, Dr. Ingeborg Rapoport finally defended her PhD thesis at the University of Hamburg. In 1938 she wrote her thesis on prevention and treatment of diphtheria, then a big childhood killer. Her professor told her she could not defend it. Although raised Protestant her mother was Jewish, which under Nuremberg laws made her Jewish, and Jews were not allowed to receive degrees. She fled Germany penniless, and came to the US, where she applied to over 40 medical schools before finding one that would admit her (a women’s college). She married a scientist and they settled down to work and raise a family. They had 3 children and another on the way when they faced blacklisting due to their membership in the Communist Party. They returned to Europe, where she continued to live after her husband’s death. The University of Hamburg was ready to grant an honorary degree but she wanted the real one. Her work was long since lost, so she wrote a new thesis on scientific advances in diphtheria over the past 70 years. Having successfully defended her thesis, she will get her doctorate June 9, the oldest person on record.
Mozel tov to Doctor (twice over) Rapoport.
