BERLIN — The German defense minister, Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, announced his resignation Tuesday after mounting criticism from academics and his own conservative party over his admission of plagiarism in parts of his doctoral dissertation.
The German defense minister, Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, with German soldiers in March 2010.
Mr. Guttenberg, who had been a rising star in German politics, told reporters in the Defense Ministry in Berlin that resigning was the “most painful step of my life,“ but said he could no longer carry out his duties as minister amid the debate surrounding his work and his character.
“I was always ready to fight, but have to admit I have reached the limit,” Mr. Guttenberg said.
It was not immediately clear who would succeed him.
Mr. Guttenberg, 39, has been a leading member of the Bavarian-based Christian Social Union, the sister party of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union. His resignation is a bitter setback for Mrs. Merkel, who needed Mr. Guttenberg to play a major role in six important regional elections taking place this year. With Mrs. Merkel’s party routed 10 days ago in elections in Hamburg, the party was relying on Mr. Guttenberg to hit the campaign trail once the scandal had abated.
Last week in the Bundestag, or Parliament, Mr. Guttenberg admitted that he had made mistakes when writing the dissertation, losing sight of sourcing on two passages. He had earlier said he would no longer use the title of doctor. Then he said he would renounce it completely. The University of Bayreuth, which conferred the doctorate in 2007, revoked Mr. Guttenberg’s academic title last week, saying he had “seriously violated” the institution’s standards.
When the scandal broke nearly a month ago, Mr. Guttenberg played down the allegations that he had lifted other academics’ texts, dismissing them as “fanciful.”
When he apologized last week, conservatives hoped that the controversy would recede.
But the criticism did not let up. Last weekend, more than 20,000 academics from Germany and Europe sent an open letter to the Chancellery. They said Mrs. Merkel’s support of Mr. Guttenberg was a “mockery” of all those who “contribute to scientific advancement in an honest manner.”
“If the protection of ideas is no longer an important value in our society, then we are gambling away our future,” the statement said. “We do not expect gratitude for our scientific work but we do demand respect. The scientific community is suffering as a result of the treatment of the Guttenberg case as a trivial offense. As is Germany’s credibility.”
Mrs. Merkel had supported Mr. Guttenberg , hoping that the defense minister would be able to survive and continue to lead the Defense Ministry, where he had begun to implement major reforms of Germany’s armed forces.
Mr. Guttenberg abolished conscription, or the draft, and began a program designed to make the military more flexible. This entailed reducing the number of soldiers to 190,000 from 250,000. In addition, he was planning to close many bases and reduce bureaucracy.
Because of the way the ministries are divided among the conservative bloc, analysts said the new defense minister would come from the Christian Social Union, despite the lack of military, security and foreign affairs experience inside that party. Mr. Guttenberg was one of the few Christian Social Union politicians who had expertise in those fields.
© 2011nytimes.com
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