| Born: | 08-28-1903 |
| Faculty: | Philosophical School |
| Category: | Deprivation of academic degree |
Bruno BETTELHEIM (born on August 28th, 1903 in Vienna, died on March 13th, 1990 in Silver Spring, ML/USA), had graduated at the Philosophical School at the University of Vienna in Philosophy on February 2nd, 1938 with the academic degree 'Dr. phil.' (dissertation: 'Das Problem des Naturschönen und die moderne Ästhetik').
Shortly after his graduation he was deported to the Camps in Dachau and later to Buchenwald. He emigrated to the USA in 1939 and became a psychoanalyst, child-psychologist and founding member of the US-National Academy of Education. In Austria he was deprived of his academic degree on May 8th, 1941 with the racist argument, that he as a Jew was not considered dignified an academic degree of a German university ('eines akademischen Grades einer deutschen Hochschule unwürdig'). In 1944 he got the US-citizenship and became assistent professor for childpsychology, -psychiatry and -pedagogics. From 1952 till his retirement in 1973 he was full professor. He died in 1990.
It took 62 years since the deprivation - and a very long time since the end of Nazism - until the regranting of the doctorate took finally place on April 10th, 2003 posthumously in a solemn ceremony.
Lit.: GEUTER 1986, 255; POSCH/STADLER 2005; POSCH 2009, 11-14, 274, 361, 398; KAUFHOLD, haGalil 2010.
Herbert Posch
