Schneider's glasses

Now it’s over with Dr. Best

Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg's dissertation was his undoing.

(Bild: APA/Georg Hochmuth)

Author Robert Schneider ventures into the nitty-gritty: Austria and his passion for titles. But there could be trouble ahead: Will the subservient and obedient better treatment of Mr. and Mrs. Doctor soon be over?

A doctorate before the name still makes a murderous impression. Especially in an authoritarian country like Austria, where the degree of deference and subservience supposedly increases from west to east. Advertising has long since recognized that a doctorate can promote the sale of a product. It is supposed to suggest respectability and ergo quality. This applies to custard powder as well as toothbrushes. If it even becomes a professor, the devotion knows no bounds. As the actor Klausjürgen Wussow once said in an interview, he had long since resigned himself to the name Professor Brinkmann. At some point, the head doctor of the "Black Forest Clinic" simply gave up.

Now, of course, countless plagiarism scandals have somewhat discredited the precious title. Its shining lights were Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg (CSU), Annette Schavan (CDU) and, most recently, Berlin's transport senator Manja Schreiner (CDU), who was stripped of her doctorate because her dissertation contained over two thirds of citations without sufficient identification. In the meantime, it has become a media sport to scrutinize politicians' dissertations to the letter. At the latest when they enter politics, the papers are finally read. However, as journalist David Denk wrote in ZEIT magazine on May 1, 2024, things are set to change fundamentally with the doctorate. At least in Germany. In future, the title will not appear in front of the surname as it does now, but, as Denk continues: "(...) in a new data field on the back of the ID document.

Austria and Germany
The federal government justifies this with an alignment with international customs and confusion among foreign border authorities, as the two letters are often mistaken for the first letters of the surname (...)" Dr. Eck, who was addressed as Mr. Dreck at customs, finally becomes Mr. Eck without having to explain himself at length. Comforting for this gentleman. In Austria, the change will probably be a long time coming. Frau Doktor has simply become too accustomed to her husband's title. And vice versa recently too.