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, he 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 at the Military Intelligence Language School at Fort Snelling in Minnesota, he was sent to Japan in December 1945. He intially 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 during the years 1947-1949. Steiner later served as Chief of the Civil Affairs and Civil Liberties Branch of 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. He remained at Stanford until his retirement in 1977. He was known for his works on local government in Japan and on the politics of Austria.