Ludwig Quidde
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Ludwig Quidde | |
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Born | |
Died | 4 March 1941 | (aged 82)
Resting place | Munich, Germany |
Political party | German People's Party, German Democratic Party, Radical Democratic Party |
Ludwig Quidde (German pronunciation:
Born into a wealthy
The fortune that Quidde inherited allowed him to devote himself entirely to politics. In 1893, he joined the
In 1894, Quidde published a 17-page
After the end of the
A humiliated and torn German nation condemned to economic misery would be a constant danger to world peace, just as a protected German nation whose inalienable rights and subsistence are safeguarded would be a strong pillar of such world peace.
May those who are in power today think beyond this day and consider the future of mankind. Their responsibility is enormous. Today, an altogether new order can be created for the benefit of all peoples. Short-sighted misuse of that power can ruin everything.[a]
— Quidde, et al., Announcement of the German Peace Society", 15 November 1918
When Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933, Quidde escaped to Switzerland and finally settled down in Geneva for the rest of his days. He remained an optimist throughout his life. Aged 76, he published his essay "Landfriede und Weltfriede" (1934) while militarism was again on the rise. He believed that modern technology might serve as a deterrent from war:
[It is] today's technological development which has turned modern war into a suicidal nightmare and which will put an end to war. This was already predicted by
perpetual peace" to be established not due to the moral perfection of man but due to modern warfare, which would be so unbearable that mankind would see itself forced to guarantee everlasting peace.[b]
Quidde died in his Swiss exile in 1941, aged 82.
See also
References
- Notes
- ^ Ein gedemütigtes, zerrissenes und zu kümmerlichem wirtschaftlichen Dasein verdammtes deutsches Volk wäre ebenso eine stete Gefahr für den Weltfrieden, wie ein in seinen unveräußerlichen Rechten und Daseinsbedingungen geschütztes eine starke Stütze desselben sein würde.
Mögen jene, die heute die Macht haben, über den nächsten Tag hinaus an die Zukunft der Menschheit denken. Eine ungeheure Verantwortung liegt auf ihnen. Etwas ganz Neues kann heute zum Segen aller Völker geschaffen werden. Kurzsichtiger Missbrauch der heutigen Macht kann alles verderben. - ^ [...] die Entwicklung der Technik, die den modernen Krieg immer mehr zu einem selbstmörderischen Wahnsinn gemacht hat, dem Kriege ein Ende setzen wird. Das hat im Grunde genommen schon Kant vorausgesehen, der die Schaffung eines "ewigen Friedens" nicht etwa von einer Hebung der Moral erwartete, sondern vom Kriege, der so unerträglich werden würde, dass die Menschheit sich genötigt sehen würde, den Frieden zu sichern.
- Citations
External links
- Ludwig Quidde on Nobelprize.org including the essay based on the Nobel Lecture of December 12, 1927, "Security and Disarmament"
- Newspaper clippings about Ludwig Quidde in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW