Holtzer Fellowship

Charles W. Holtzer

The CharlesW. Holtzer Fellowship (known as the 'Holtzer Fellowship') funds one German student every year at Harvard University. ^[1] Established in 1929, it is one of the oldest scholarships in the world and among the highest-paying scholarships in Germany. ^{[2] [3]}

The Holtzer Fellowships are administered according to the will of German-American businessman and philanthropist Charles W. Holtzer. ^[4] The fellowships are awarded each year by Harvard University upon recommendation of the German Academic Exchange Service. ^[5]

For the 2023/24 Holtzer Fellowships, the award covers full tuition, health insurance, €1,500 travel expenses, and a €18,000 maintenance grant (slightly lower than the comparable Kennedy Scholarship maximum means-tested grant of $27,250). ^{[3] [6]}

History

Charles William Holtzer was born in Karlsruhe, Germany on August 26th, 1848. Having emigrated to the United States at the age of 20, Holtzer started an electronics business at Harvard Square, eventually founding the Holtzer-Cabot Electric Co.. ^[7]

The Holtzer Fellowships were initiated in 1929 upon Holtzer's death with an initial endowment of $75,000. ^[8] In the wake of World War I, Holtzer desired to facilitate academic exchange between the U.S. and continental Europe. ^[9] Upon initiation of the fellowship, the Harvard Crimson noted that "one foreign scholarship which brings a specially qualified student to this country to study can accomplish more than any number of meetings of peace societies in which outlawry of war is discussed". ^[9]

Having been established in 1929, the Holtzer Fellowship is the oldest still active international scholarship which exclusively sends its scholars to Harvard. ^[10] It is predated only by a number of national scholarships, ^[2] as well as the two great international scholarships at the time of its initiation, the Rhodes Scholarship to the University of Oxford from 1902, and the Commonwealth Fund to the U.S. from 1918. ^{[11] [12]} The Holtzer Fellowship predates all comparable, international scholarships to Harvard; the Henry Fellowship from 1930, the Knox Fellowship from 1945, as well as the Kennedy Scholarship from 1964. ^{[13] [6] [14]}

Notable Holtzer Fellows

Hans Georg Rupp, former Holtzer Fellow

• H. W. Janson, German-American art historian ^[15]
• Hans G. Rupp, German lawyer and judge at Federal Constitutional Court ^[15]
• Wolgang Stolper, Austrian-American economist, co-author of the Stolper-Samuelson theorem ^[15]
• Horst K. von Einsiedel, German anti-Nazi resistance fighter and member of the Kreisau Circle ^[16]
• Hermann J. Schnitzler, German art historian ^[16]
• Fritz Ermath, German lawyer, political scientist and anti-Nazi intellectual ^[17]
• Hans-Lukas Teuber, German-American psychologist; founder of modern neuropsychology ^[18]
• Jost Hermand, German-American literature professor ^[19]
• Kaspar Naegele, German sociologist ^[20]
• Klaus Scherer, Swiss social psychologist ^[21]
• Herbert Bloch, German classics professor at Harvard ^[22]

References

1. "Harvard University Committee on General Scholarships | Germany". Harvard University. Archived from the original on 2022-01-31. Retrieved 2025-07-15.
2. "NSPA Timeline & Brief History of Scholarships". National Scholarship Providers Association. Archived from the original on 2025-04-09. Retrieved 2025-07-14.
3. "DAAD Globus Länderbericht: USA" (PDF). DAAD Globus (in German). Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst. 2024. p. 12. Retrieved 2025-07-14.
4. "German Students Will Study Here". The Harvard Crimson. Retrieved 2025-07-14.
5. "Unis mit Gegenstipendien". daad.de (in German). Retrieved 2025-07-14.
6. "Prospectus for 2019 - 2020". Kennedy Memorial Trust. Retrieved 2019-05-18.
7. "Charles William Holtzer". www.digitalcommonwealth.org. Retrieved 2025-07-14.
8. "Funds given to Harvard; One Is to Provide for Bringing German Students Here". The New York Times. 1929-04-27. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2025-07-14.
9. "Foreign Scholarships". The Harvard Crimson. Retrieved 2025-07-14.
10. "Outside Funding Sources" (PDF). Harvard Law School. September 2022. Retrieved 2025-07-14.
11. "History of the Scholarship". The Rhodes Project. Retrieved 2025-07-15.
12. "About Us". Commonwealth Fund. Retrieved 2025-07-15.
13. "Frank Knox Fellowships" . Retrieved 2025-07-15.
14. "Home". Henry, Procter and Choate Fellowships. Retrieved 2025-07-15.
15. "3 Germans Win Harvard Honors". The New York Times. 1935-03-23. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2025-07-15.
16. "Harvard Awards 13 Annual Prizes; Students in College and Arts, Science and Theological Schools Named. $35,650 in Scholarships Winners Include Ten for Summer Travel Abroad and 62 for the Next Academic Year". The New York Times. 1931-06-09. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2025-07-15.
17. "Fritz Ermarth". daad.de (in German). Retrieved 2025-07-15.
18. Stringer, Anthony Y. (2011). "Teuber, Hans-Lukas (1916–1977)" . Encyclopedia of Clinical Neuropsychology. New York: Springer. pp. 2501–2503. doi:10.1007/978-0-387-79948-3_656. ISBN   978-0-387-79948-3 . Retrieved 2025-07-15.
19. "George L. Mosse interview with Jost Hermand: 19 May 1992". George L. Mosse Program in History. 2023-09-28. Retrieved 2025-07-15.
20. "Kaspar Naegele Memorial Lecture". UBC School of Sociology. Retrieved 2025-07-15.
21. "Archives UNIGE - Notices d'autorité". archives.unige.ch. Retrieved 2026-01-15.
22. Obermayer, Hans Peter (2024-10-21), Briggs, Ward; Shanzer, Danuta (eds.), "Fluchtpunkt Italien – Hoffnung USA: Deutsche Altertumswissenschaftler im italienischen Exil", Professing Classics: Between Germanosphere and Anglosphere (mid-19th–21st C.), De Gruyter, pp. 217–248, doi:10.1515/9783111432892-011/html, ISBN   978-3-11-143289-2 , retrieved 2026-01-15