Kurt Pätzold

From 1948 to 1953 he studied History, Philosophy, and Political Science at the University of Jena, where he wrote his dissertation on how the economic crisis affected the Carl Zeiss AG company and received his PhD.

He attended HU Berlin University to receive his Doctor of Science and he specialized in "Antisemitism and the persecution of Jews (that occurred from 1933-1935).

The longtime leader of the Center for Antisemitism Research, Wolfgang Benz, described the procedure of Pätzold’s laying off as scandalous and unjust.

In 1946, he was already a member of the KPD (Communist party which later developed into the SED), for whom he also worked full-time at the University of Jena between 1954 and 1960.

After the Friedliche Revolution ("the Peaceful Revolution" that led to the opening of East Germany’s borders with the west) in 1989, critical scientists and students accused Pätzold of actively participating in political persecution that occurred in 1956-1958 at the University of Jena, as well as 1968, 1971/1972 and 1976 at the Humboldt-University of Berlin.

But also his studies on national socialism as the German version of fascism and on the history of the NSDAP are considerable research achievements.