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Raul Hilberg: Holocaust scholar, was 81

Dr. Raul Hilberg, a renowned Holocaust scholar, died Saturday. He was 81.

Hilberg, a professor emeritus of political science at the University of Vermont, died at the Vermont Respite House of lung cancer, although he never smoked, said his wife, Gwen.

Hilberg wrote ''The Destruction of the European Jews,'' published in 1961, a landmark study of the Nazi killings of more than 5 million Jews.

He was honored by the German government for his contributions and teaching on the Holocaust and was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2005, according to the university.

Hilberg, who taught at the university from 1956 to 1991, started the school's Holocaust Studies program, and the institution later created the Center for Holocaust Studies in 1992 ''to honor Hilberg's teaching and research accomplishments.''

Hilberg and his parents left Austria in 1938 after the Nazi invasion and came to the United States. Hilberg served in the U.S. Army in Europe during World War II.
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