‘Insufficient evidence’ for Warwick historian’s allegation that concentration camp survivor had lesbian affair with SS guard, university panel says
A historian committed research misconduct when she claimed that a Jewish concentration camp prisoner had a lesbian affair with an SS guard, a university investigation has ruled.
There’s no ethical standard that participants must always be de-identified, or that historians must conceal identities when there is a living relative, but there is that we must adhere to our undertakings. There is an ethics approval element to this research misconduct story. Presumably, the review body would have asked for evidence of the daughter’s approval.
Dr Hájková was previously fined €4,000 (£3,523) by a German court for breaching an injunction that forbade her from using the name of the Holocaust survivor – who died around 10 years ago – or her photograph in relation to the claim without her daughter’s permission. The fine was imposed because material by Dr Hájková that breached the injunction remained online, The Guardian reported last year.
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