Germany's defense minister, a rising star in Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative bloc and the country's most popular politician, resigned Tuesday over allegations he plagiarized his doctoral thesis。
Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg told reporters it was the "most painful step of my life," but he felt that he could no longer carry out his duties as minister amid the intense debate surrounding the work and his person。
Guttenberg admitted last month making "grave mistakes" in his 2007 thesis and gave up his academic title of "Dr." but insisted he did not intentionally copy the work。
Following that, Bayreuth University formally removed his academic title in order to uphold the institution's standards, which he said Guttenberg had "seriously violated" by failing to sufficiently credit the source of his work。
But the pressure continued to grow, with the scandal dominating the country's news coverage, despite polls showing the majority of Germans backed him。
On Monday, some 23,000 German academics joined the rising chorus of people demanding his resignation, sending Merkel a joint letter protesting her decision to keep Guttenberg on。
"I was always ready to fight, but have to admit I have reached the limit," Guttenberg told reporters at the Defense Ministry。
德国国防部长古滕贝格于本周二宣布辞职。古滕贝格是德国总理安格拉?默克尔所领导的保守派阵营的政坛新星，也是德国的政治家。
卡尔·特奥多尔·楚·古滕贝格告诉记者，这是“我生命中最艰难的决定”，但有关论文和其人品的激辩使他无法继续履职。
古滕贝格上月已承认自己2007年发表的论文涉嫌抄袭，犯下“严重错误”，并放弃博士头衔，但坚称自己并非故意抄袭。
事件曝光后，拜罗伊特大学正式取消了他的博士头衔，以捍卫学术标准，并称古滕贝格没有充分指出论文引述内容的来源，“严重违规”。
但来自各界的压力仍不断增强。尽管调查显示多数德国人支持古滕贝格，但这起丑闻占据了德国各大新闻报道。
本周一，大约2.3万名德国学者加入了要求古滕贝格辞职的行列，给默克尔寄去了一封联名信，抗议其留任古滕贝格的决定。
古滕贝格在德国国防部接受记者采访时说：“我随时准备抗争，但不得不承认我已经达到了极限。”
