When Adolf Hitler Was Nominated For The Nobel Peace Prize
The award nomination that triggered a raging controversy
Yes, I know this might sound crazy to most of you, but this is as true as the fact that he was the dictator of Germany back in the days when the world was going through some of the most gruesome wars in history. The Nobel prize is an annual award given in five fields: Physics, Chemistry, Medicine, Literature, and Peace. The award is named after Sir Alfred Nobel as the prize is funded according to Alfred Nobel’s last will and comes from his realizable assets. The Nobel Prize is awarded by the Norwegian Nobel Committee and four other institutions and has been going on so since 1901.
There have been loads of controversies regarding the Nobel Prize but one, to be, stands out the most than the rest. I recently was conducting research on the accolades of some of the most prominent physicists in the history of science and so of course the Nobel Prize couldn’t be set behind. During this time, I came across the fact that the German dictator, Adolf Hitler, was once nominated for the Noble Prize in 1939 for peace. Hitler was the dictator of Germany for over 10 years until his death in 1945. The man responsible for the death of over six million Jews being nominated for the Nobel Prize wasn’t quite digestible for many people.
Why did it all happen?
It was supposed to be a joke. A Swedish Parliamentarian named E.G.C. Brandt had nominated Hitler for the peace prize in 1939. While this was all supposed to be considered a joke, literally none took it as so, and in fact, it created violent outrage among people. In his letter to the Norwegian committee, the nominator stated,
To the Norwegian Nobel Committee,
I hereby humbly suggest that the Peace Prize for 1939 is awarded the German Chancellor and Führer Adolf Hitler, a man, who in the opinion of millions of people, is a man who more than anyone in the world has deserved this highly respected reward. Authentic documents reveal that in September 1938 world peace was in great danger; it was only a matter of hours before a new European war could break out. The man who during this dangerous time saved our part of the world from this terrible catastrophe was without no doubt the great leader of the German people. In the critical moment he voluntarily did not let weapons speak although he had the power to start a world war.
The complete letter by the member can be read on the official Nobel Prize website:
The news soon spread like a wildfire through all the media companies all over the world and received wide criticism. Hitler himself would never consider receiving such a prize even if he ever won he. He believed that such honors are an “insult” to Germany and the Nazis. In fact, in 1936, three years before his nomination, a German journalist named Carl von Ossietzky was awarded the Peace Prize, soon after which he barred the Germans to receive the Nobel Prize and passed a decree about the same. Ossietzky chose to receive the Prize despite the decree and excluded himself from German society. Though he wasn’t exiled from the country, he was sent to stay in isolation while suffering from Tuberculosis and later died due to his illness.
Hitler’s nomination for the Prize was soon withdrawn due to raging controversies among the masses. Brandt soon sent out a message stating that he was an anti-fascist and did so with an intention of pure criticism against the rule of the German leader. While this is very fascinating to think about, did you also know that Joseph Stalin was also nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize twice in 1944 and 1945, with no satiric intention?
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