Does anyone know who was set to win the Nobel Peace Prize in 1939? The Munich Agreement was signed to appease Hitler in September 1938, which the Germans broke in March of 1939 by invading the rest of Czechoslovakia. Wouldn't the Nobel committee have already voted on the 1939 award if not debating nominees? As best I can tell the Nobel people did not issue a Peace Prize during WWII. I suppose it is silly to hand out a peace prize when the entire world is at war, much less as Panzer tanks are rolling into Oslo. When Hitler invaded Poland the Scandinavian countries all declared complete neutrality. Hitler thought "great, this will be easy" and invaded Vikingland less than a year after the Munich Agreement was violated. Did Goebbels even allow them to vote on the Nobel Prize during WWII? The question is, had Hitler not pounced so quickly on Allied appeasement, who would have won the 1939 Nobel Peace Prize?
Gandhi never won a Nobel Peace Prize, but Arafat did. That says all you need to know about the validity of the award. There have been recipients who were/are amazing people, but the act of winning the award does not instantly put you on a level with Aung San Suu Kyi or the Dalai Lama.
By the way I didn't look it up, but have any historians investigated who was being selected to win the 1939 prize before global war broke out? Surely somebody has looked into this! Or did the Nobel association burn the documents that they penned in those five dark months between September 1938 and March of 1939? The Scandinavians have a flawed judgment in the business of war and peace if you ask me. I suspect many of the Nobel voters were pumping Chamberlain. I am drawing that inference based on some of the recent recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize.
Jesus Christ, I'm almost starting to miss George Bush! Many around the world did not like him, but they were afraid of him. If Mr. Obama is serious about doing this "we have been evil, I am sorry, how can I make it up to you" routine with totalitarian rulers who have acquired their power through brute force, just watch how this plays with these aggressive and forceful world leaders. They eat kindness for breakfast.
"An appeaser is a man who feeds a crocodile hoping it will eat him last..."
-Winston Churchill
"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it"
-Something someone said once
According to Wiki 1939 nominations included Gandhi and one Adolph Hitler. The Hitler nomination was hastily withdrawn. No mention of Chamberlain.
ReplyDeleteWikipedia is not a scholarly source.
ReplyDeleteIf that is accurate, then that means that the fucking Vikings came out of 1938 convinced that Adolf Hitler was worthy of the "World Peace" award! That's even more damning than nominating Chamberlain!
ReplyDeleteThat's like giving Charles Manson the "good guy of the year" award after the first mass slayings. What does that say about the people voting on the thing? Now that I think of it, Hitler could not have been nominated before WWII. That is impossible. The Vikings aren't that naive.
We give Nobels all the time - the REAL ones - to encourage research in socially or scientifically relevant directions. At least 6 of the last 9 in Medecine have gone towards discoveries in cancer research. Clearly their purpose is not ONLY to reward good work, but also to reward work in the right direction.
ReplyDeleteYou should know that simply stating 'Wikipedia is not a scholarly source' doesn't lessen the impact when you're wrong. It's a cop out.
ReplyDeleteOK, Nobelprize.org mentions that Hitler was nominated in Feb. 1939, by one Swedish parliamentarian. The nomination was withdrawn within days. I think we can assume it really happened.
ReplyDeleteWhen I am wrong? I never stated that Chamberlain was going to win. I was asking a question. Since they did not give out the Peace Prize, who would have won it? Can we ever find out?
ReplyDelete