Steiner, Kurt, May 20, 1986

Kurt Steiner (June 10, 1912 – October 20, 2003), attorney and professor of government and politics, received his JD at the University of Vienna, before emmigrating to the United States in 1938 to escape Nazi rule. As a speaker of several languages, Steiner obtained a job as an instructor at the Berlitz language school in Cleveland, Ohio, and later became head of the schools in Cleveland and Pittsburgh. He was inducted into the Army in December 1943. Trained in Japanese at the Army Japanese Intensive Language School in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and the Military Intelligence Language School at Fort Snelling in Minnesota, he was sent to Japan in December 1945. Steiner initially worked for the Allied Translator and Interpreter Section (ATIS).

In January 1946, he was transferred to the International Prosecution Section (IPS) for the International Military Tribunal for the Far East (IMTFE), where he became chief of documentary evidence (1947-1949). Steiner later served as Chief of the Civil Affairs and Civil Liberties Branch of the Legal Section, Legislation in Justice Division. He remained in Japan until 1951. He earned a doctorate in political science from Stanford University in 1955 and, in that same year, joined the faculty. Steiner remained at Stanford until his retirement in 1977 and was known for his works on local government in Japan and on the politics of Austria. Kurt Steiner passed away at the age of 91.