102-year-old awarded PhD denied by Nazis 77 years ago

Being labelled mixed-race denied German woman Inge Rapoport the chance to get her doctorate in 1938.

Now at 102, Rapoport is at last being awarded her degree – 77 years later.

As a young woman, Rapoport studied to become a doctor but in 1938 the Nazis’ anti-Semitic laws meant she was classified as a “Mischling” because of her mother’s Jewish faith.

The Nazi crackdown on the Jews prompted Rapoport to leave Germany and seek safety in the United States, where she completed her studies. Returning to East Germany in the Cold War era, she established a successful neonatal clinic.

Only recently, Rapoport’s alma mater in Hamburg realised she had never been allowed to graduate and offered her a chance to go through a hearing to win the award.

“This is a hopeful sign of a new humanistic spirit at a German university,” Rapoport told a gathering at Hamburg University.

“I am happy that it happened in my old home town of Hamburg.”