he completed his secondary education in a st. petersburg classical gymnasium and thus acquired knowledge of greek early in life. he began his university studies in heidelberg, germany (1921), where he devoted himself initially to philosophy, economics, and sociology, though he also took classes in classical archeology. his teachers included karl jaspers, heinrich rickert, alfred weber and ludwig curtius. his interest in history, especially byzantine history, was awakened by a young dozent by the name of percy ernst schramm. after studying various aspects of byzantinology in paris (1924–25), ostrogorsky received his doctorate from the university of heidelberg (1927) with a dissertation in which he combined his interests in economics and byzantine history. he then taught as privatdozent in breslau from 1928 and moved to belgrade in 1933.