My mom has a stack of yearbooks of commentaries written by Danish author Hans Scherfig in the communist newspaper Land og Folk.
I flipped through one of the books and found this piece from 1978 that feels depressingly relatable today. Everything from awarding warmongers with peace prizes to social democrats cozying up to fascism could just as well has happened today.
On the Prize of Peace and War
IT CAUSED some surprise in the world several years ago when the Norwegian Nobel Committee took it into its head to present the Nobel Peace Prize to the warmonger Lester Pearson, who was the first Secretary-General of NATO’s military organisation.
Later the Peace Prize was awarded to the Japanese militarist, Prime Minister Eisaku Sato (who had made a notable contribution to the rearmament of his country), and to Nixon’s Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger (who bore personal responsibility for particularly vicious terror bombings in Vietnam).
SINCE THEN the Norwegian Nobel Committee has been unable to surprise anyone. And it was predicted well in advance (both on Norwegian and Danish radio) that this year’s Peace Prize would be awarded to Israel’s [sic] Prime Minister, Menachem Begin, and Egypt’s President, Anwar Sadat. This was not a tasteless joke, but reliable information from an authoritative source.
Menachem Begin, as everyone knows, has a past as a terrorist and a present as an aggressive right-wing extremist, and as the head of an occupying power responsible for bloody “reprisal actions” against civilians and gross violations of human rights.
Anwar Sadat has a past as a collaborator during the last war and a present as an American stooge and traitor to the Arab peoples — particularly to the displaced and maltreated indigenous inhabitants of Palestine.
At the conspiracy at President Jimmy Carter’s country estate, Camp David, in the United States, the profitable unrest and war-risk in the Middle East were to be secured for the arms monopolies of the Wild West.
In any event, Nobel’s Peace Prize is a welcome Norwegian encouragement to the profiteers of war. Whether the Camp David plan is actually carried through, or whether one or the other of the prize-winners should find it advantageous to break off the proceedings before the festive award ceremony, remains to be seen. That part of the matter has not yet been settled.
When the Norwegian parliament’s committee, with due solemnity, presents the Peace Prize to Menachem Begin in Oslo on December 10th, one will at the same time be able to remember Count Folke Bernadotte, who precisely thirty years ago was murdered by members of Begin’s terrorist organisation, when, as a peacemaker, he attempted to bring about a reasonable settlement for Palestine.
IT WAS an honour to Norway when the Swede Alfred Nobel, in his will (1895), decreed that it should be the Norwegian Parliament which each year selected the person worthy of the Peace Prize. The person chosen was to be one who, in word and deed, had made an outstanding contribution through work for the cause of peace.
The will expressed a beautiful confidence in Norway’s permanent neutrality and in the Parliament’s independent integrity. Free from any connection with great-power imperialism and outside every aggressive alliance, the most peaceful of all countries was to administer the honourable award for peace.
It could not then have been foreseen that Norway — like Denmark — would, half a century after Alfred Nobel’s death, be duped into joining the holy alliance of beleaguered capitalism against world socialism.
Just as the Holy Alliance of the princes was established after the Napoleonic Wars to put a stop to the course of world history, NATO was established for the same purpose. A defence pact against the future. The machinery of war kept on a war footing, materially and psychologically, with every means of influence mobilised. The Peace Prize, too, must be subordinated to the war machine.
NORWAY’S obligations to the alliance necessarily extend to the Parliament’s Nobel Committee, which for a number of years now has rewarded outstanding war efforts with Peace Prizes.
Those are NATO’s terms, and there is no reason to be surprised by the names. You can guess at the next, and you can amuse yourself by naming the worst. But satire becomes strained when reality outdoes the imagination. It would be difficult to name a war criminal who could not, in fact, be considered for the prize.
There is, for example, Rudolf Hess — Hitler’s deputy and Nazi Reich Minister, a member of the Secret Cabinet Council and of the council responsible for the Third Reich’s war machine, a general in the SA and a general in the SS. He was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Nuremberg Tribunal — his crimes occupy several pages of the judgment.
He is now named by Wolfgang Nahrath, leader of a West German youth organisation, as a worthy candidate for the Peace Prize — “he was and is the greatest fighter for peace and is still sitting today in Spandau Prison in Berlin —”
And in the Danish Social Democratic newspaper Aktuelt, Knud Poulsen wrote movingly of Rudolf Hess’s martyrdom: “The four occupying powers take turns guarding the old man. — — It is tragic, and it is a disgrace to the former Allies — — There is no room for pity or human compassion —”
And it may perhaps be expected that Wolfgang Nahrath and Knud Poulsen will now jointly draw the attention of the Norwegian Nobel Committee to this “greatest fighter for peace”, who in his prison might find some consolation in a Peace Prize.
November 18th 1978.
Original Danish text
Om fredens og krigens pris
DET AFSTEDKOM for flere år siden nogen overraskelse i verden, da Den Norske Nobel-Komité fik det indfald at forære Nobels fredspris til krigstilhængeren Lester Pearson, som var den første generalsekretær for NATO’s militærorganisation.
Senere er fredsprisen blevet tildelt den japanske militarist, statsministeren Eisaku Sato (som har gjort en bemærkelsesværdig indsats ved sit lands genoprustning), og den amerikanske udenrigsminister i Nixons tid, Henry Kissinger (som havde et personligt ansvar for særlig ondartede terror-bombardementer i Vietnam).
HEREFTER har Den Norske Nobel-Komité ikke kunnet overraske nogen. Og det var i god tid forudsagt (både i den norske og i den danske radio) at fredens pris i dette år skulle tildeles Israels statsminister, Menachem Begin, og Ægyptens præsident, Anwar Sadat. Og det var ikke en smagløs morsomhed, men en korrekt underretning fra kompetent side.
Menachem Begin, som bekendt, en fortid som terrorist og en nutid som aggressiv højreekstremist og chef for en besættelsesmagt med ansvar for blodige »gengældelses-aktioner« mod civile og grove krænkelser af menneskerettigheder.
Anwar Sadat har en fortid more kollaboratør under sidste krig og en nutid som amerikansk kreatur og forræder mod de arabiske folk — specielt mod de fordrevne og mishandlede oprindelige indbyggere i Palæstina.
Ved sammensværgelsen på præsident Jimmy Carters landsted, Camp David i USA skulle den profitable uro og krigs-risiko i Mellem-Østen være sikret for Det vilde Vestens rustningsmonopoler
Nobels fredspris er under alle omstændigheder en velkommen norsk opmuntring til krigens spekulanter. Om så Camp David-planen virkelig gennemføres, eller om den ene eller den anden af de prisbelønnede skulle finde det fordelagtigt at afbryde samværet før den festlige præmie-uddeling. Den del af sagen er endnu ikke afgjort.
Når Stortingets komité den 10. december i Oslo med passende højtidelighed overrækker fredsprisen til Menachem Begin, vil man samtidig kunne mindes grev Folke Bernadotte, som netop for tredive år siden blev myrdet af medlemmer fra Begins terror-organisation, da han som fredsstifter forsøgte at få oprettet en rimelig ordning for Palæstina.
DET VAR en hæder til Norge, da svenskeren Alfred Nobel i sit testamente (1895) bestemte, at det skulle være det norske Storting, som hvert år skulle udpege den, der var værdig til fredsprisen. Den udvalgte skulle være en person, som i ord og handling havde ydet en fremragende indsats ved virksomhed for fredens sag.
Der var ved dette testamente udtrykt en smuk tillid til Norges bestandige neutralitet og Stortingets uafhængige retskaffenhed. Uden nogen forbindelse med stormagts-imperialisme og uden for enhver aggressiv alliance skulle det fredeligste af alle lande kunne forvalte fredens ærefulde pris-belønning.
Det kunne ikke dengang forudses, at Norge — ligesom Danmark — et halvt århundrede efter Alfred Nobels død skulle blive narret ind i den betrængte kapitalismes hellige alliance mod socialismen i verden.
Ligesom fyrsternes hellige alliance efter Napoleons-krigene blev NATO oprettet for at standse verdenshistorien. En forsvars-pagt mod fremtiden. Krigens beredskab, materielt og psykologisk med alle påvirknings-midler mobiliseret. Også fredsprisen må underordnes krigs-væsnet.
NORGES forpligtelse over for alliancen omfatter nødvendigvis Stortingets Nobel-Komité, som nu i en årrække har belønnet fremragende krigs-indsats med fredspriser.
Det er NATO’s betingelser, og man skal ikke lade sig overraske af navne. Man kan gætte på det næste, og man kan more sig med at nævne de værste. Men satiren bliver anstrengt, når virkeligheden overtræffer fantasien. Der kan vanskeligt udpeges en krigsforbryder, som ikke reelt kunne komme i betragtning.
Der er for eksempel Rudolf Hess — Hitlers stedfortræder og nazistiske rigsminister og medlem af det hemmelige kabinets-råd og af rådet for det Tredie Riges krigsvæsen, general i SA og general i SS. Han blev dømt til livsvarigt fængsel af Nürnberg-Domstolen — hans forbrydel-ser fylder flere sider i domsdokumentet.
Han nævnes nu af føreren for en vesttysk ungdomsorganisation, Wolfgang Nahrath som en værdig kandidat til fredsprisen — »han var og er den største kæmper for freden og sidder endnu i dag i Spandau-Fængslet i Berlin —«
Og i den danske socialdemokratiske avis, Aktuelt, skrev Knud Poulsen bevæget om Rudolf Hess’ martyrium: »De fire besættelsesmagter skiftes til at have bevogtningen af den gamle mand. — — Det er tragisk, og det er beskæmmende for de fordums allierede — — Medynk og medmenneskelighed er der ingen plads for —«
Og det kan måske ventes, at Wolfgang Nahrath og Knud Poulsen nu i fællesskab vil henlede Den Norske Nobel-Komités opmærksomhed på denne »største kæmper for freden«, som i sit fængsel ville kunne trøstes med en fredspris.
- november 1978.