The Nobel Peace Prize 1958 Award Ceremony Speech Presentation
Speech by Gunnar Jahn*, Chairman of the Nobel Committee The
Nobel Committee of the Norwegian Parliament has this year
awarded the Nobel Peace Prize to the Belgian Dominican, Father
Georges Pire, for his efforts to help refugees to leave their
camps and return to a life of freedom and Father Pire's work is
known to all of us in Western Europe. We have read in the
newspapers of this man who, on his own initiative, has set
himself the task of rescuing the handicapped refugees, the «Hard
Core», or the residue. These are the old and infirm who remained
in the camps, doomed to stay there without hope of a brighter
future, men for whom our hard, ruthless world, which has taken
Efficiency and Working Capacity as its idols, has had no further
use. Just seven weeks ago, we in Oslo had the pleasure of
hearing Father Pire speak of his work for these refugees1. His
talk in the Great Hall of the University was reported in the
national press; so most of us in Nor