超级变态的德国法律：非欧洲博士不得自称Dr.
看了这个文章，我都不知道该怎么办了。难道把自己简历甚至邮件签名里面的“Dr. XXX”全都改成搞笑的“XXX, PhD, XXX University”？德国人有这么个法律，实在是很悲哀的事情。Non-European PhDs In Germany Find Use Of 'Doktor' Verboten
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/13/AR2008031304353.html
By Craig Whitlock and Shannon Smiley
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, March 14, 2008; Page A01
BERLIN, March 13 -- Americans with PhDs beware: Telling people in Germany that you're a doctor could land you in jail.
At least seven U.S. citizens working as researchers in Germany have faced criminal probes in recent months for using the title "Dr." on their business cards, Web sites and r¿sum¿s. They all hold doctoral degrees from elite universities back home.
Under a little-known Nazi-era law, only people who earn PhDs or medical degrees in Germany are allowed to use "Dr." as a courtesy title.
The law was modified in 2001 to extend the privilege to degree-holders from any country in the European Union. But docs from the United States and anywhere else outside Europe are still forbidden to use the honorific. Violators can face a year behind bars.
Ian Thomas Baldwin, a Cornell-educated researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in Jena, has stopped calling himself "Dr." ever since he was summoned for interrogation by police two months ago on suspicion of "title abuse."
"Coming from the States, I had assumed that when you get a letter from the criminal police, you've either murdered someone or embezzled something or done something serious," said Baldwin, a molecular ecologist. "It is absurd. It's totally absurd."
No one has questioned the legitimacy of his degree or whether he has the right to conduct research here. But going by "Dr." is verboten. If he wants to refer to his doctorate, German law dictates that he identify himself as "Prof. Ian Thomas Baldwin, PhD, Cornell University."
Baldwin confessed in a telephone interview that "there's no question I'm guilty as charged." But he hopes prosecutors will give him a break.
In his defense, he noted that the Max Planck Institute has always addressed him as "Prof. Dr. Baldwin" since it offered him a job a decade ago, and nobody warned him he might be in legal peril if he did likewise.
The proper use of honorifics is no small matter in Germany, a society given to formality where even longtime neighbors insist on addressing each other using their surnames. Those with advanced degrees like to show them off, and it is not uncommon to earn more than one. A male faculty member with two PhDs can fully expect to be called "Herr Professor Dr. Dr. Schmidt," for example.
In effect, forcing Americans to forsake their titles amounts to a social demotion. "It's an indication of the hierarchization of German society," said Gary Smith, director of the American Academy in Berlin. "Germans are much more status-conscious about these things, and the status is real."
Smith holds a doctorate from Boston University and has tempted fate by answering to "Dr. Smith" during the two decades he's lived in Germany. He said he was told years ago that there is a legal way for foreign PhDs and MDs to register for permission to use the appellation, but he has never bothered.
"It wasn't worth the trouble of doing anything about it," he said. "It's really an absurd situation in a globalized world."
The German doctor rule has been in effect since the 1930s, but it has been only sporadically enforced in recent years.
That changed last fall, when an anonymous tipster filed a complaint with federal prosecutors against seven Americans at the prestigious Max Planck Society, which operates 80 scientific research institutes across Germany. Federal authorities forwarded the complaint to prosecutors and police in at least three states, who decided to take action.
Joerg Stolz, the chief prosecutor in the city of Jena, which is investigating Baldwin and another researcher at the Max Planck Institute there on suspicion of title abuse, said those two probes were "near closure."
He said his office had recommended to a judge against filing charges. In that event, he said, the matter would be referred to the Cultural Ministry in the state of Thuringia, which could still decide whether a civil fine is warranted.
Detlef Baer, a spokesman for the ministry, said officials planned to drop both cases. "We spoke with the parties involved and determined they had no criminal intent," he said. "They were given instructions as to how they can refer to their titles," by citing the degree but not calling themselves doctors.
Another American investigated by police is an astrophysicist with a doctorate from Caltech and membership in the German Academy of Sciences.
The criminal investigations have alarmed higher education officials in Germany, where U.S. researchers are in high demand and treated as blue-chip recruits. Last week, state education ministers met in Berlin and recommended that the law be modified so anyone holding a doctorate or medical degree from America could be addressed as "Dr." without running afoul of the police.
"This is a completely overdone, mad, absolutely ridiculous situation," said Barbara Buchal-Hoever, head of Germany's central office for foreign education. "We are talking about highly acclaimed researchers here. . . . The people who have pressed charges must be gripers or troublemakers who wanted to make a totally absurd point."
Even if the proposal is adopted, however, it would extend the privilege only to people with degrees from about 200 U.S. universities accredited by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. Anyone with a PhD from Canada, Japan or the rest of the non-European world would still be excluded.
For now, the old law remains on the books. It is unclear when, or if, Germany's state parliaments will change it.
So the next time Dr. Condoleezza Rice (PhD, University of Denver) or even German-born Dr. Henry Kissinger (PhD, Harvard) pay a visit to Berlin, they may want to stick with the title "secretary of state."
[ 本帖最后由 hooklee 于 2008-3-17 21:17 编辑 ] 无奈 这个是指不在德国获得的博士学位吧，好像德国是这样的，如果在美国获得的，必须注明phd$考虑$ $考虑$ "This is a completely overdone, mad, absolutely ridiculous situation," said Barbara Buchal-Hoever, head of Germany's central office for foreign education. "We are talking about highly acclaimed researchers here. . . . The people who have pressed charges must be gripers or troublemakers who wanted to make a totally absurd point."...
德国人太搞了 真的太有意思了。德国人的死脑筋从这就能看出了！ 为什么呢?
Dr.可以作为姓的一部分，所以比较重视。
国情不同而已。。 德国社会比较重视title，填表格的时候就可以发现
所以他们特意规定在德国获得的博士学位才可以用Dr.这个头衔，这也是可以理解的，但并不是说别的国家拿到的博士学位德国就不承认 $汗$ $汗$ lz可能说的是这个事吧！不是针对在德国念博士学位的！
http://www.dolc.de/forum/viewthread.php?tid=693191&extra=page%3D1 原帖由 joana0163 于 2008-3-17 20:24 发表 http://www.dolc.de/forum/images/common/back.gif
$汗$ $汗$ lz可能说的是这个事吧！不是针对在德国念博士学位的！
http://www.dolc.de/forum/viewthread.php?tid=693191&extra=page%3D1
是同一个报道。有规定不奇怪，问题是Dr.这个头衔是全世界学术界通用的，即使德国人对这个头衔的理解和使用很严格，似乎也应该针对国际情况做一个灵活地处理，或者至少对每位来德国做研究的国外博士发一个必要的通知。但是到目前为止，我还没听说任何一所德国大学和研究机构向非欧洲博士们提醒过这个问题。
这个法律的荒谬之处可以用下面的假想案例来显示：香港科技大学副教授Dr. Xyz先生来德国参加国际会议，在会上散发了印有Dr. Xyz的名片，于是被德国人检举，受到检察官控告。很明显，这样无原则地滥用德国自己对Dr.的限制是极其可怕的。 另外，大家看看新闻里面德国国外教育中央办公室主任的评论，就可以知道只要是真正在学术圈的都知道这个法律是很无聊而荒诞的。其实这样的法律应该重点追究的是用假头衔行骗，而不是使用这个头衔这种行为本身。
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