Hebrew U. compensates WWII no-show

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An Israeli university compensated a European Jew whose attendance was scuppered by World War II.

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem on Tuesday presented Baruch Kaplan with a check for $3,800, a symbolic sum that today would cover two years of tuition.

The Polish-born Kaplan enrolled to study chemistry at Hebrew University in 1939, and his father paid in advance. But then war broke out, and Kaplan escaped Nazi Germany’s onslaught while his family was killed. He would later study sciences in Moscow, becoming a renowned professor, before immigrating to
Israel.

Kaplan, 85, said he plans to spend the Hebrew University refund on tuition for one of his great-granddaughters.

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