The Nobel Peace Prize from a Romanian perspective – the interwar period

• Main Author: Vasilica Sirbu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: The Romanian Association for Baltic and Nordic Studies 2011-12-01
• Series: Revista Română pentru Studii Baltice şi Nordice
• Subjects: Nobel Peace Prize; Romanians; nominations; Nobel Committee
• Online Access: http://www.arsbn.ro/the-nobel-peace-prize-from-a-romanian-perspective.htm

The Nobel Prizes are widely regarded as the ultimate achievement by researchers, writers and politicians. Due to its uniqueness and the values it stands for, the Nobel Peace Prize seems increasingly important in the modern world. To this point, no Romanian citizen was awarded this prize, but how many of them were nominated and how close were those nominated to winning this prize? Based on the archives of the Nobel Institute, this paper presents the Romanian nominees during the interwar period, their image and their activity as it appears in the nomination letters. The documents show that the name of some Romanians appears in the letters of nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize, their works and ideas being of a real interest. Those who nominated them tried to influence the decisions of the Nobel Committee in favor of their candidate. The results were not positive, but Romanians, the nominees as the nominators, were among those keeping pace with the events, the politics and the peace movements in Europe during a troubled time.