Fredrik Bajer (21 April 1837 – 22 January 1922) was a Danish writer, teacher, and

pacifist Pacifism is the opposition or resistance to war, militarism (including conscription and mandatory military service) or violence. Pacifists generally reject theories of Just War. The word ''pacifism'' was coined by the French peace campai ...

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, ...

who received the

Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Swedish industrialist, inventor and armaments (military weapons and equipment) manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Chemistry, Physics, Physiolo ...

in 1908 together with

Klas Pontus Arnoldson Klas Pontus Arnoldson (27 October 1844 – 20 February 1916) was a Swedish author, journalist, politician, and committed pacifist who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1908 with Fredrik Bajer. He was a founding member of the Swedish Pea ...

Life

He was son of a clergyman born in Næstved in 1837. Bajer served as an officer in the Danish army, fighting in the 1864 war against

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an e ...

and

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

where he was promoted to the rank of first lieutenant. He was discharged in 1865, and moved to Copenhagen where he became a teacher, translator and writer. He entered the Danish Parliament in 1872 as a member of

Folketinget The Folketing ( da, Folketinget, ; ), also known as the Parliament of Denmark or the Danish Parliament in English, is the unicameral national legislature (parliament) of the Kingdom of Denmark—Denmark proper together with the Faroe Islands an ...

and held a seat there for the following 23 years. As a member of parliament, he worked for the use of international arbitration to solve conflicts among nations, and it is due to Bajer's efforts that foreign relations became part of the work of the Danish Parliament and that Denmark participated in the

Inter-Parliamentary Union The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU; french: Union Interparlementaire, UIP) is an international organization of national parliaments. Its primary purpose is to promote democratic governance, accountability, and cooperation among its members; other ...

from the beginning and earned a distinguished position among its members. He supported the early women's suffrage organisation and many peace organizations including International Peace Bureau, both inside Denmark and Europe-wide, and he helped guide the passage of a bill to reach arbitration agreements with

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic countries, Nordic c ...

and

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of ...

Quotation

"Always we must bear in mind that law has to be substituted for power, that care must be taken to serve the interests of law."Fredrik Bajer Quotations
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References

External links