1939 letter nominating Adolf Hitler for the Nobel Peace Prize
What do Mahatma Gandhi, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Adolf Hitler have in common? They have all been—once or several times—Nobel Peace Prize nominees.
That is right, Adolf Hitler, the genocidal mastermind of the Shoah, was recommended to the Nobel committee in 1939, just three short months before he led Germany to invade Poland and start World War II. The recommendation came from Erik Gottfrid Christian Brandt, a social democratic member of the Swedish parliament. (Members of national assemblies are among the many people who can nominate candidates for the Peace Prize.)
At the time, the suggestion generated protests and outrage, with Brandt accused of being a fascist and reportedly banned from lecturing at several associations.
In his letter to the committee, Brandt calls the führer “a God-given fighter for peace” and “the Prince of Peace on earth.” He calls Mein Kampf “the best and most popular piece of literature in the world,” and expresses confidence that the dictator could “pacify Europe, and possibly the whole world.”
https://qz.com/803976/adolf-hitler-was-nominated-for-the-nobel-peace-prize-in-a-darkly-ironic-letter-by-erik-gottfrid-christian-brandt/
