Persecutions of the NS Regime
Starting in the spring of 1933, the national socialists issued a number of ordinances in Germany that formed the basis for persecuting political opponents and Jewish citizens and banning them from public offices. Also members of the former Technische Hochschule Karlsruhe became victims of those sanctions. In remembrance of the persons who were removed from office, excluded from studying, or whose academic degrees and honors were revoked, KIT installed a commemorative plaque at Campus South.
In the course of the persecutions, 11 out of the 41 full and extraordinary professors of the Technische Hochschule Karlsruhe of that time were removed from office. At least 13 persons from the ranks of honorary professors, assistants, staff members, and student associates were ousted. Due to the incomplete sources, it is no longer possible to determine the exact number for this group of individuals.
The persecutions were targeted at the following members of the Technische Hochschule Karlsruhe:
Paul Askenasy
Moshe Rudolf Bloch
Georg Bredig
Samson Breuer
Wolfgang Gaede
Edgar von Gierke
Hans Görlacher
Stefan Goldschmidt
Ludwig Wilhelm Hess
Fritz (Friedrich) Hirsch
Dorothea Japhe
Willi Keller
Hans Leo Lehmann
Erich Littmann
Theodor Pöschl
Willy Prager
Emil Probst
Alfred Rabl
Alfred Riede
Franz Schnabel
Nathan Stein
Jenoe Tausz
Ladislaus Vahl
Albert Wassermann
Paul Wolff
Students of the Technische Hochschule Karlsruhe were also affected by the persecution measures. After facing multiple obstacles imposed after 1933, Jews were no longer allowed to study for a doctorate degree 1937 onwards. In the wake of the November Pogroms in 1938, Jewish students were entirely barred from all universities. Based on the Reichsbürgergesetz (Law of Reich citizens), all Jews who were leaving Germany because they could or would no longer live in the Nazi state were deprived of the doctorate degrees they had obtained.