Germany: Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, defence minister, accused of plagiarism

German Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg has announced he will temporarily renounce his PhD amid allegations of plagiarism.

Guttenberg, considered Germany's most popular politician, was summoned by Chancellor Angela Merkel to discuss charges that he copied "complete and numerous" passages in his dissertation.

Guttenberg said Friday the work "no doubt contains mistakes," but he strongly rejected all plagiarism accusations. He said he would refrain from using the title of Dr. until the outcome from a review of his thesis by Bayreuth University.

Reports emerged earlier this week that Guttenberg, 39, a former economics minister, had copied tracts of his 475-page thesis from other sources without credit. Pages from his thesis were published alongside pages from other articles by other authors; his writings mirror those other articles.

The University of Bayreuth, where he did doctoral work, has asked Guttenberg to respond to the charges. Guttenberg did his dissertation on the development of constitution law in the European Union and United States and earn a doctorate in law.

Guttenberg is considered aristocracy in Germany, according to the BBC: His home is a castle in Bavaria, which has been in the family since 1482; he is considered good-looking; his wife is a glamorous chat-show host and a great-great-granddaughter of "Iron Chancellor" Otto von Bismarck.

His full name is Karl-Theodor Maria Nikolaus Johann Jakob Philipp Franz Joseph Sylvester Freiherr von und zu Guttenberg. The "von und zu" reveals his lineage, while Freiherr means "baron."

The plagiarism claims are the latest in a string of scandals that have prompted accusations that the young politician, seen as a possible successor to Germany's chancellorship, is not fully in control of his department.

The most recent case surrounded events on a military training ship: cadets refused to climb rigging from which another cadet had fallen to her death, amounting to a mutiny. Lurid tales of sexual goings-on later emerged.

His ministry was also criticized when it announced that a German soldier had shot himself in Afghanistan — it then emerged that he had been shot accidentally by another soldier.

Guttenberg rejected as "absurd" reports in the newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung that one passage in his dissertation was copied word for word from a newspaper article without attribution. It also said he used words from a public lecture without attribution.

"The writing of the dissertation was my own work," Guttenberg said.

He told reporters inquiring about the plagiarism allegations swirling around him: "I will temporarily — I repeat temporarily — give up my doctoral title."