The Nobel Peace Prize 1927
Born: 23 March 1858, Bremen, Germany
Died: 4 March 1941, Geneva, Switzerland
Residence at the time of the award: Germany
Role: Professor, Berlin University, Member, German Parliament, Participant of various peace conferences
Prize motivation: “for their contribution to the emergence in France and Germany of a public opinion which favours peaceful international cooperation”
Prize share: 1/2
Opposed German War Policy
Ludwig Quidde was awarded the Peace Prize in 1927 for his lifelong work in the cause of peace. He shared the Prize with the Frenchman Ferdinand Buisson.
Quidde had a doctorate in history, but received no official appointments because of his opposition to the German Kaiser. He became a member of the International Peace Bureau, and endeavored to reduce the hostility between Germany and France after the Franco-German war in 1870-71.
In 1907 he was elected to the German Reichstag, and later became president of the German Peace Society. During World War I he spoke against Germany's annexation of territory from neighboring countries, and as a result he was placed under political surveillance. Quidde was disappointed at the harsh treatment of Germany after the war, but continued to work against rearmament and German revanchism. When Hitler came to power, he fled to Switzerland, where he lived for the rest of his life.