102-Year-Old Woman To Receive PhD - 77 Years After Nazis Turned Her Away

A 102-year-old woman will finally receive her PhD - 77 years after she was turned away by Nazis.

Ingeborg Syllm-Rapoport finished her thesis on diphtheria between 1937 and her mother was Jewish.

She was unable to go through the final stage of the doctorate, that would see her questioned face to face by a panel of academics.

But now the paediatrician is set to have a ceremony in her honour at the University of Hamburg to receive her diploma.

The process was kicked off by her son Tom, a Harvard medical professor who wrote to the university to ask them to give her the diploma.

But they insisted she follow the right procedure and take the final, face to face exam she needed to pass.

Ingeborg agreed and spent months revising before finally passing the final stage to earn her PhD.

Uwe Koch-Gromus, Hamburg university's dean of medicine, said after the exam: "It was a very good test.

“Frau Rapoport has gathered notable knowledge about what's happened since then.

“Particularly given her age, she was brilliant.”

He added: "With this belated graduation we cannot make up for the injustice that has already occurred, but we can contribute to working through the darkest sides of German history at universities.”

German-born Ingeborg migrated to the U.S. for several years but has moved back to Germany in 1950 and lives in Berlin.