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Professor: Columbia University Bonded With Nazis

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Nov 6, 2006 7:27 pm US/Eastern

Professor: Columbia University Bonded With Nazis

Holocaust Expert Fires Allegations At Hallowed School

By Scott Rapoport
NEW YORK (CBS) ― Columbia is one of our nation's most prestigious institutions of learning.

But now it's facing the ugliest of allegations.

"It's a disgrace," said Oklahoma Prof. Stephen Norwood, a holocaust expert. "Horrifying. Outrageous."

Norwood, considered an expert of Nazi Germany and the holocaust, earned his doctorate of in history from Columbia.

Norwood claims that at the height of Adolf Hitler's power in the mid 1930s, as the Third Reich removed Jewish professors and students from its universities, Columbia "enhanced" Hitler's regime by sending a school delegate to Germany to celebrate Heidelberg University's 550th anniversary, a celebration attended by top Nazi officials.

"They displayed gross insensitivity to barbaric acts," Norwood said. "They were in a position to bring Nazi crimes to wider attention. They failed to take that opportunity."

Norwood lays the blame at the feet of then University president Nicholas Murray Butler -- ironically a former Nobel Peace Prize recipient -- who he said hosted a German ambassador at Columbia shortly after the Nazi's came to power in 1933.

"They were used by the Nazi's on several occasions to enhance Nazi prestige," Norwood said.

CBS 2 reached out to the university for comment Monday night. A spokesman from Columbia said only "we are aware of the allegations." He would go no further.

But Columbia is no stranger to controversy:

*An October speech by Jim Gilchrist anti-immigration group: The Minutemen project led to violence.

*An address by holocaust survivor and pro-Palestine advocate Norman Finklestein raised eyebrows.

*A scheduled address by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the controversial president of Iran, was canceled after protests and concerns.

And now Norwood's shocking allegations leave Columbia in the harsh spotlight again.

(© MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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