Luthuli Receives Nobel Prize

Press, Volume C, Issue 29695, 13 December 1961, Page 25

Luthuli Receives Nobel Prize

(N Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright) OSLO, December 11. Chief Albert Luthuli, wearing Zulu costume, a leopard-skin hat, and a necklace of animal teeth yesterday, received the 1960 Nobel Peace Prize at a ceremony watched by King Olav and Norway’s leading citizens.

Deeply moved. Mr Luthuli, who is 82, told the gathering in Oslo University's main auditorium that he regarded the award as “a recognition of the sacrifices made by the peoples of all races in South Africa. particularly the African peoples who have endured and suffered so much for so long.’’ At the same ceremony, held in the glare of television arc lights, Sweden’s ambassador to Norway, Mr Rolf Edberg, accepted the 1961 Peace Prize diploma and medal on behalf of the late Mr Dag Hammarskjold. Several members of the family of the former United Nations Secretary-General heard Mr Edberg say that the prize money worth about £15,550 would be used to start a fund “for a purpose which was near to Mr Hammarskjold’s heart.” He did not say what this was. “Fought For Justice” The chairman of the Nobel Committee of the Norwegian Storting (Parliament), Mr Gunnar Jahn, said of the two prizewinners: “However different they were, they had one thing in common. They both fought for the instinct of justice to the established in each human being, in each nation and in the relationship between nations.” Mr Jahn said Mr Luthuli’s struggle for human rights for Africans gave perspectives far outside his country. “If the non-white population in South Africa rises from its degradation without terror or violence, it will be Mr Luthuli’s work,” he said.

Accepting the prize. Mr Luthuli paid tribute to Mr Hammarskjoid. and to Alfred Nobel, founder of the prize. Of Mr Hammarskjoid. Mr Luthuli said: “It is significant that it was in Africa, my- home continent, that he. gave his life. “How many times his decisions helped to avert a world catastrophe will never be known. But there can be no doubt that he steered the United Nations through some of the most difficult phases in its history.” Mr Luthuli said some people might call South Africa a country of peace—“but there can be no peace with the newspapers muzzled." Mr Luthuli’s wife was in the hall to hear him pay tribute to her "encouragement and active support” for his work—"which has often made me fear she may land in gaol one day.”