Historian criticizes Harvard University's role during Nazi era

A historian has claimed that the famous Harvard University enhanced the reputation of the Nazi regime when it sanctioned events in the 1930s attended by Nazis. “Harvard remained largely indifferent to the persecution of Germany's Jews,” said Stephen Norwood, a University of Oklahoma history professor who is writing a book about the response of US universities to the Nazis. Norwood has now presented some of his findings. He said that Harvard administrators had welcomed one of Adolf Hitler's closest deputies to a reunion, held a reception for German naval officials and sent delegates to a celebration at a German university that had expelled Jews. Harvard administrators, alumni and student leaders “remained indifferent to Germany's terrorist campaign against Jews and indeed on numerous occasions assisted the Nazis in their efforts to gain acceptance in the West,” professor Norwood argues.