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Why was Carl von Ossietzky’s Nobel Peace Prize controversial in Nazi Germany?

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The awarding of the 1935 Nobel Peace Prize to Carl von Ossietzky was highly controversial in Nazi Germany because it was widely interpreted as an international condemnation of the Nazi regime.1

As a journalist and pacifist, Ossietzky had been a vocal critic of German militarism and had uncompromisingly attacked the Nazis after Adolf Hitler rose to power. Following his arrest in 1933, he was held in a concentration camp, where he suffered years of incarceration and torture.1

Because the Nobel Committee chose to honor a man imprisoned by the state for his anti-Nazi stance, the German government viewed the prize as a direct affront. In retaliation, Hitler issued a decree that forbade all German citizens from accepting any Nobel Prize in the future.1