Polish, German scholars criticize Nazi stripping of titles

In a symbolic gesture, Polish and German scholars will condemn the Nazi-era decision by Germany's former Breslau University to strip some 260 mostly Jewish academics of their doctors' titles, a spokesman said Thursday.

Jacek Przygodzki, the spokesman for the southwest Wroclaw University, told The Associated Press that the Jan.22 ceremony being held with the German University of Cologne aims to condemn political meddling into academic life. The two universities will declare Breslau University's decision "non-existent," he said.

The titles stripped under Adolf Hitler's reign from 1933-45 were those of Hitler's critics. Many were of Jewish scholars who taught in the then-German city of Breslau. In total, some 2,000 German scholars were stripped of their degrees.