Hitler was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1939.
This is definitely one of the most interesting facts about Adolf Hitler for many people. Erik Brandt, a Swedish senator, nominated Hitler for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1939. Even though he meant it as a jest, few thought it humorous. Instead, it sparked outrage, and the nomination was swiftly withdrawn. Hitler would not have desired or been able to receive the honor. In 1936, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to German journalist Carl von Ossietzky, a prominent opponent of Hitler. The gesture was seen as a condemnation of Nazism and an "insult" to Germany. As a result, Hitler prohibited all Germans from receiving the Nobel Prize and established the German National Prize for Art and Science as a substitute. The three Germans who eventually won Nobel Prizes under the Third Reich were compelled to refuse their honors, however, they were afterward awarded diplomas and medals.
The nomination sparked outrage among Swedish communists, social democrats, and liberal anti-fascists. Erik Brandt was accused of being irrational, sloppy, and a traitor to working-class principles. All of his seminars at various groups and clubs were canceled. Brandt was taken aback by the angry replies. The Swedish publication Svenska Morgonposten interviewed Erik Brandt. He said that Hitler's nomination was supposed to be sarcastic. As a reaction to Chamberlain's nomination, he nominated Hitler as a provocation against Hitler and Nazism. As a result of the Munich Agreement, the western nations stabbed Czechoslovakia in the back in order to establish peace. Neither Chamberlain nor Hitler earned the Nobel Peace Prize.
After the onset of WWII in the fall of 1939, Brandt wrote to the editor of the anti-Nazi weekly Trots Allt that by nominating Hitler, he hoped to: "through the use of irony recommend a Peace Prize to Hitler and by that pin him to the wall of shame as enemy number one of peace in the world." However, because the reactions to the nomination were so strong, and the majority of Swedes clearly did not see the irony of Hitler's candidacy, Brandt withdrew the nomination in a letter to the Norwegian Nobel Committee a few days later in February.
