A Dying Man's Wish (ISTD) by Brian Cave

A DYING MAN’S WISH

1 THE WILL 2 OBSTACLES 3 ENDEAVOUR

All content in this publication was taken from the following sources sourcesNobel.org The Legacy of Alfred Nobel by Ragnar Sohlman ISBN 0-370-30990-I Nobel,The Man and His Prizes ISBN 0-444-00117-4 Images on pages 19 & 41 by Brian Cave Printed in Ireland.

Preface This book aims to highlight the many struggles that one man faced and how he triumphed over those obstacles. It is a story of loneliness, greed and mistrust but it is also the story of resourcefulness and hope. These are all the traits of humanity in one small book. The Nobel Awards are recognized all around the globe yet few know about the origins of these prestigious awards. Alfred Nobel was a remarkable man in an exciting era in history. The story of his career is not the aim of this book but the astonishing story that unfolded once this mercurial Swedish inventor died.

THE WILL

he only problem with this obituary is that Alfred Nobel was not dead and was very much alive. The French press had mistakenly published his obituary and not that of his brother, Ludwig who had passed away on the 12th of April in Cannes, 1888. Shocked and horrified, Alfred Nobel sat, reading his own obituary which was not a favourable piece of journalism. The paper described him as the “merchant of Death” and the “man who made it possible to kill more people more quickly than anyone else who ever lived.” Alfred was devastated by how the world viewed him. So it was this mishap that was the catalyst for a series of events that would result in the establishment of one of the worlds most prestigious awards today.

hemist, inventor, engineer, entrepreneur, business man, author and pacifist. Alfred Nobel was a talented and complex individual. He was known worldwide and was extremely wealthy yet often he would feel lonely and without friends. He spent long hours in the laboratory working with toxic chemicals under primitive conditions. In addition to the laboratory work, Nobel dealt with his correspondence with factories, banks and collaborators all by himself. He traveled frequently and did not have a permanent home. Nobelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s complex personality puzzled his contemporaries. Although his business interests required him to travel almost constantly, he remained a lonely recluse who was prone to fits of depression. He led a retired and simple life and was a man of ascetic habits.

e could be a courteous dinner host, a good listener, and a man of incisive wit. He never married, and apparently preferred the joys of inventing to those of romantic attachment. He had an abiding interest in literature and wrote plays, novels, and poems, almost all of which remained unpublished. He had amazing energy and found it difficult to relax after intense bouts of work. Among his contemporaries, he had the reputation of a liberal or even a socialist. Though Nobel was essentially a pacifist and hoped that the destructive powers of his inventions would help bring an end to war, his view of mankind and nations was pessimistic.

“HOME

LIVE

AND I

LIVE

WHERE

t was a running commentary on the kind of life he had led as a result of his growing business empire. Rootless, though, he was not. Nobel managed to "settle down" at fixed points, from where he could oversee his spreading concern, which spanned the European continent and reached over to the United States. Between the years 1865 to 1873, Alfred Nobel had his home, laboratory and the center of his business near his factory in KrĂźmmel, Hamburg. He moved into a magnificent house on Avenue Malakoff in Paris in 1873, where he seemed to have settled permanently for almost two decades. He would, however, spend the last five years of his life, in a lovely villa overlooking the Mediterranean, in San Remo, Italy. Sanremo, a town located in the Liguria region in northwestern Italy, has been a year-round health resort since 1861. It is located in that part of the Italian Riviera known as the Riviera di Fiori, named for the flowers that are grown here and exported to continental Europe.

EVERYWHEREâ&#x20AC;?

ost of the assets proved to be linked to Nobelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s holdings in the Russian oil company Baku Petroleum and a hundred or so ammunition and dynamite factories in Europe, North and South America, Australia and South Africa. Nobel also had substantial shareholdings in various mining companies, including gold mines, as well as revenues from his 355 international patents. In addition he owned a yacht ,the first in the world with an aluminium keel - a stud farm for riding horses, and three valuable properties: the villa Mio Nido in San Remo, an apartment in Paris, and the villa BjĂśrkborn in Karlskoga (where he never took up residence).

hat to do with the latest acquisition? During the months of May and June, Nobel found time to bathe in the warm waters of the Mediterranean. He now had an idea how to put the house in good use. "It will be an excellent place to undress in when we take our daily dip in the sea below; that will save us from being crowded out by Italians in the public bathing huts," he confided to Ragnar Sohlman. It was obviously said in pure jest, since he seemed to have had other purposes in mind. Plans for the renovation of the villa were made along with orders for a magnificent suite of furniture. There was even speculation that he was probably thinking of offering the villa to King Oscar of Sweden as a residence during the latter's spring visits to the Riviera.

t was not to be. On December 10, 1896 Alfred Nobel succumbed to a lingering heart ailment, suffered a stroke, and died in the villa that he was once called "My Nest." Except for two servants, Alfred Nobel died alone, no friends or relatives by his side.

OBSTACLES

n 2 January 1897, the will of Alfred Nobel, the recently deceased Swedish dynamite millionaire was widely published. The bulk of his great fortune was left to form a fund, from the annual income of which five prizes were to be distributed to those who, “during the preceding year, shall have conferred the greatest benefit upon mankind”. In equal amounts prize winners in physics, chemistry, medicine, literature and peace were to be named “whether Scandinavian or not.” No man of great wealth had done anything like this before, and the news came as a great surprise to the public, and no less to the disappointed Nobel family. To Nobel's young assistant, Ragnar Sohlman, the will brought shock. Only after Nobel's death did he and the Swedish engineer Rudolf Lilljequist learn that they were to be the executors.

ohlman not only has to deal with the relatives and the Swedish institutions, but with Nobel’s complicated finances and international business affairs. In the midst of all this, he is suddenly called up to do his military service. Since estate matters cannot be postponed, Sohlman is permitted to install himself and his accountant in a private building inside the army camp, where they attend to correspondence in the evening after the day’s drilling is done. A corporal bicycles every day with their letters to the nearest post office. Since telephones are few and far between Sohlman pays to have one set up in his own quarters, which keeps him busy. When Sohlman finishes his service and departs, the army probably sighs with relief. To counter the Paris court’s finding of domicile, the executors – once all the securities and documents had arrived in Sweden – got the Karlskoga District Court to declare Björkborn to have been Nobel’s domicile. But this was just a stalemate for the time being with two courts each claiming the right to probate the will. But a stalemate was not enough. What the executors really need is for Paris to give up its claim to having any jurisdiction over the probate of the will.

ohlman was a chemical engineer, who was then only twenty-five years old. He had worked in the United States at the Du Pont dynamite factory and was on the staff of the Swedish pavilion at the Chicago World’s Fair of 1893 when a telegram arrived from Alfred Nobel, whom he had never met, offering him the position as his personal assistant. In the next three years he more than lived up to his high recommendations, not only serving as Nobel’s valued assistant and coworker, but becoming a close friend, a relationship unusual for Nobel. Lillequist, busy with his own affairs, left most of the executor work to Sohlman, and no one could have been better qualified. The task proved to be Herculean. In the first place, the passage in the will about the prizes was legally defective. Nobel’s purpose was clear enough, and he had identified the awarding bodies: in Sweden two academies and the Karolinska medical institute and in Norway, then part of a monarchic union with Sweden, a committee to be elected by the parliament.

A twenty-five year old Ragnar Sohlman who was to inherit the task of setting up the worlds first awards ceremony of its kind.

hen his will was read, it shocked his family and the world. Giant bequests for the advancement of science, literature and peace were not exactly common. The international press was positive, especially since Nobel had made a point of saying the awards should be made without considering country of origin. Initial reactions in the Swedish press were positive too, but King Oscar II was horrified. He saw the will as unpatriotic, as bypassing Swedish interests, and the Peace Prize in particular as a major political hornet’s nest since it was to be awarded by the Norwegian parliament while Sweden and Norway were in the process of getting a national divorce. His relatives expected a more traditional approach to his legacy. From a business perspective, there were grave concerns that in order to go through with this crazy prize scheme, they would be forced to sell Alfred’s stock in Branobel, his brothers’ successful oil company in Russia, to outsiders. Not only would this introduce non-family into the ruling structure of the business, but the mass stock sale could depress the company’s worth and ruin its finances. The heirs of Alfred’s brother Robert’s filed suit to contest the will. Robert’s son Ludvig initiated sequestration procedures against Alfred’s properties.

rs. Pauline Nobel, was represented by the assistant district judge, E. Hagelin. Carl Lindhagen and Jacob Seligman acted as administrators while Sohlman and Liljequist formally presented the estate. It was established that, outside of Sweden, Alfred had left assets in France, England, Germany, Scotland, Italy, Austria, Norway and last but not least Russia. The Swedish branch is supported by many conservative fellow countrymen, who call the will “unpatriotic” because the prizes were not reserved for Swedes and who fear that the Norwegians will use the peace prize to gain friends for their efforts toward independence. Pauline Nobel, along with Hjalmar and Ludvig as well as Carl and Ingeborg Ridderstolpe, protested the validity of the proceedings. The legal process, that was now beginning in Sweden caused much worry and a huge waste of time. Early on, Sohlman had sensed a glimmer of hope that an understanding could be reached. As the heirs expressed their assurance to the court that, whether or not they won, Nobels’ wishes would come to fruition. Finally the family was appeased with the help of Emanuel, the son of Alfred’s brother Ludvig of fake obituary fame. He didn’t want to contest the foundation; he just wanted to ensure the shares of Branobel stayed in the family. King Oscar II himself tried to browbeat him into breaking the will, summoning him to an audience and lecturing him on the problems the Peace Prize would cause. Emanuel stood firm, even shoring up Sohlman’s spirits when they flagged, telling him that the word for executor in Russian means “vicar of the soul.”

rs. Pauline Nobel, was represented by the assistant district judge, E. Hagelin. Carl Lindhagen and Jacob Seligman acted as administrators while Sohlman and Liljequist formally presented the estate. It was established that, outside of Sweden, Alfred had left assets in France. England, Germany, Scotland, Italy, Austria, Norway and last but not least Russia. The Swedish branch is supported by many conservative fellow countrymen, who call the will “unpatriotic” because the prizes were not reserved for Swedes and who fear that the Norwegians will use the peace prize to gain friends for their efforts toward independence. Pauline Nobel, along with Hjalmar and Ludvig as well as Carl and Ingeborg Ridderstolpe, protested the validity of the proceedings. The legal process, that was now beginning in Sweden caused much worry and a huge waste of time. Early on, Sohlman had sensed a glimmer of hope that an understanding could be reached. As the heirs expressed their assurance to the court that, whether or not they won, Nobels’ wishes would come to fruition. Finally the family was appeased with the help of Emanuel, the son of Alfred’s brother Ludvig of fake obituary fame. He didn’t want to contest the foundation; he just wanted to ensure the shares of Branobel stayed in the family. King Oscar II himself tried to browbeat him into breaking the will, summoning him to an audience and lecturing him on the problems the Peace Prize would cause. Emanuel stood firm, even shoring up Sohlman’s spirits when they flagged, telling him that the word for executor in Russian means “vicar of the soul.”

ut what to do with Nobelsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; funds and securities, most of which were held in Paris banks and would be subject to excessive taxes even if the will was not probated there? Sohlman could not simply instruct the banks to make the transfer to Sweden, for such a major move would surely come to the notice of the French authorities. Moreover, t h e Nobel relatives in Sweden naturally wanted combined assets before tax which were, in other words, 33,233, 792 Swedish crowns just under $7 million then. The Swedish branch is supported by many conservative fellow countrymen, who call the will â&#x20AC;&#x153;unpatrioticâ&#x20AC;? because the prizes were not reserved for Swedes and who fear that the Norwegians will use the peace prize to gain friends for their efforts toward independence.

n the probate court attorney Lindhagen answers claims that the will is unfair to the relatives by producing evidence that Nobel believed large

inheritances removed the incentive to work from his

heirs and that in his final will he reduced bequests to his relatives because they were prospering. What about the fact that the will lacks specifications for implementation? Here Lindhagen shows conclusively that this was always the way Nobel worked, delegating full responsibility to those in whom he had confidence. It is fortunate that Nobel was not too explicit. The two witnesses to the will testify that his intention was not to reward achievement, but to give recipients fuller opportunities for fruitful development. They report Nobelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s remarks that a prize should not be given to â&#x20AC;&#x153;a man of action, as he would be tempted to give up work. On the other hand, I would like to help dreamers, as they find it difficult to get on in life.â&#x20AC;? Had Nobel written dreamers into the will, the institutions chosen to make the awards would surely have rejected the assignment altogether. Now they are free to formulate their own policies and methods of selection, and many of their awards will go to seniors for past achievements.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;

Do Do not not neglect neglect your your duty duty to to the the family family in in favour favour of of the the nonsensical ideas ideas of of your your uncle, uncle, influenced influenced by by peace peace fanatics fanatics & & particularly particularly by by women women

King Oscar II of Sweden- a monarch who mistrusted his neighbours and resented Nobels will to the point of trying to influence Emanuel Nobel to contest the will.

ENDEAVOUR

he fact that Nobel's testament is so loosely drawn makes it possible for Sohlman and Lindhagen to arrive at the final settlement with all the parties. On 29 June 1900, King Oscar himself approves the statutes of the Nobel Foundation, created to provide the missing legatee and to receive the designated assets from the executors. Now proud of Nobel's prizes, at the first award ceremony in 1901 the king begins the tradition of handing out the prizes which has been continued by his royal successors. Sohlman, looking back after a half century in which he himself had a distinguished career, including ten years serving as managing director of the Nobel Foundation, concluded his story of the long struggle over the will with an understatement, "In the light of later experience, the final outcome must be deemed satisfactory." Without the skill and dedication of the personal assistant Nobel hired unseen from across the Atlantic, there would have been no such happy ending. Where there was a will, legally defective as it was and "nonsensical" as it might have seemed, Ragnar Sohlman found the way.

ohlman may only have been 26 but he was not shy of direct action. Together with Liljequist and carrying a revolver for security, they simply drove around from one bank to the next in Paris in a horse and carriage. Using their authority as Executors they just removed everything they could find; all monies, shares, bonds, securities and other documents belonging to the Nobel estate. They then proceeded to the office of the Swedish consul general, who had agreed to help them. In a locked room and while Nobel’s relatives were in another room in the same building, they divided and packaged the securities so that each package complied with the insurer’s requirement that no package exceed a specified value. The packages were then “freighted” back to Sweden from the Gare du Nord railway station as registered packages.

“ M

y immediate return to Paris was necessitated by telegrams and letters from Consul General Nordling, informing us that Hjalmar and Ludvig Nobel and Count Carl Gustaf Ridderstolpe, an in-law, had arrived in Paris to investigate the situation with a view to a possible court action against the will. Immediately after my arrival we therefore began to transfer the Nobel securities from the bank in Paris, partly to London and partly to Stockholm in insured postal packages, which had to be presented at a special Expedition des Finances at the Gare Du Nord. Securities to the value of no more than the above insurance limit of two and a half million francs were then withdrawn daily for a week from the vaults of the banks and taken to the (Swedish) Consulate General’s office where they were listed, tied up in bundles, wrapped up and sealed. In the afternoon they were taken to the Gare du Norde. Since the actual transfers to and from the Consulate General’s office involved certain risks of hold–ups and robberies, special precautions were taken and care was exercised to avoid attention. After the securities had been packed into a suitcase we took an ordinary horse-cab from the Consulate General to the Gare du Nord station. With a loaded revolver in my hand I sat in the cab prepared to defend the suitcase in case a collision with another carriage had been arranged by robbers which at that time was not an unusual occurrence in Paris.

ortunately for the executors, the Nobel family is divided. While the Swedish branch are well disposed to contest the will, those living in Russia, headed by Nobel's favorite nephew, Emanuel, want Alfred Nobel's wishes to be respected. Emanuel tells Sohlman about the Russian concept that the executor is "the spokesman of the soul" of the testator. The Swedish branch is supported by many conservative fellow countrymen, who call the will "unpatriotic" because the prizes were not reserved for Swedes and who fear that the Norwegians will use the peace prize to gain friends for their efforts toward independence.

he remaining issues were resolved when Sohlman enlisted the aid of an actual lawyer. The new legal adviser wrote to the Swedish Attorney General asking him to weigh in on the case, and he duly came down on their side saying that even though no direct interests of the crown were involved, it was right that the government “assist in putting the testator’s wishes into effect.” With that decision on their side, King Oscar II went off to suck an egg and all the prize-awarding bodies accepted their duties by late 1898.

t was now that Karlskoga and Björkborn Manor were to play an important role in Nobel’s will. Much importance was placed upon the question of where Alfred Nobel had legally had his home. At the time of his death, he still owned his grand apartment in Paris plus a huge house in San Remo, Italy. Which property could actually be called his home? In the end, the courts decided that his legal home was in Karlskoga. Traditionally, it is said that this ruling was based upon the fact that Alfred’s three much-loved Russian Orlov horses were stabled in Karlskoga. In French law, a person’s home was where his or her horses were stabled. As a direct result of this ruling in the French courts, the execution of Alfred’s Will became subject to Swedish law. Had Alfred’s Will been subject to French law it is doubtful it would have met the strict, formal requirements necessary for it to be executed under France’s legal system.

he will was now settled. The task of achieving unity among all the affected parties on how to put its provisions into practice remained. The final version of the Statutes of the Nobel Foundation contained clarifications of the wording of the will and a provision that prizes not considered possible to award could be allocated to funds that would otherwise promote the intentions of the testator. The Statutes provided for the establishment of Nobel Committees to perform prize adjudication work and Nobel Institutes to support this work, as well as the appointment of a Board of Directors in charge of the Foundation's financial and administrative management. On June 29, 1900, the Statutes of the newly created legatee, the Nobel Foundation, and special regulations for the Swedish Prize-Awarding Institutions were promulgated by the King in Council (Oscar II). The same year as the political union between Sweden and Norway was dissolved special regulations were adopted on April 10, 1905 by the Nobel Committee of the Storting (known since January 1, 1977 as the Norwegian Nobel Committee), the awarder of the Nobel Peace Prize. Finally the government formally endorsed the creation of the Nobel Foundation on September 9th, 1899. One more year was spent in negotiations between the awarding institutions and the Nobel family over the statutes of the Foundation. On June 29th, 1900 a royal ordinance established the statutes of the Nobel Foundation and special regulations governing all the Swedish prize-giving committees. On December 10th, 1901, the first Nobel Prizes were awarded in Stockholm and Oslo.

o create a worthy framework around the prizes, the Board decided at an early stage that it would erect its own building in Stockholm, which would include a hall for the Prize Award Ceremony and Banquet as well as its own administrative offices. Ferdinand Boberg was selected as the architect. He presented an ambitious proposal for a Nobel Palace, which generated extensive publicity but also led to doubts and questions. World War I broke out before any decision could be made. The proposal was "put on ice" and by the time the matter was revived after the war, Ivar Tengbom was busily designing what later became the Stockholm Concert Hall. Meanwhile the Stockholm City Hall was being built under the supervision of Ragnar Ă&#x2013;stberg. Boberg, Tengbom, and Ă&#x2013;stberg were probably the most respected architects in Sweden at that time. Because it would have access to both these buildings for its events, the Nobel Foundation now only needed space for its administrative offices. On December 19, 1918, a building at Sturegatan 14 was bought for this purpose. After years of renovation there, the Foundation finally left its cramped premises at Norrlandsgatan 6 in 1926 and moved to Sturegatan 14, where the Foundation has been housed ever since. The creation of a worthy framework around the prizes, the Board decided at an early stage that it would erect its own building in Stockholm, which would include a hall for the Prize Award Ceremony and Banquet as well as its own administrative offices. Ferdinand Boberg was selected as the architect.

ACADEMY

WEALTH

LEGACYLOYALTY BURDEN

WEDEN

NHERITANCE

OLITICS FAMILY

OPINION

NORWAY

MONARCHY

FAITH

MISTRUST NATIONALISM

FRANCE

ESTATE

BECKET

LAMA

PINTER

SHAW

BOHR

MANDEL

HUMANIT

AWARDS

EINSTEIN

MALALA

CURIE RED CROSS

DETERMINATION

FRIENDSHIP

SUU KY

TUTU OBAMA

RABIN

KING

THERESA

e presented an ambitious proposal for a Nobel Palace, which generated extensive publicity but also led to doubts and questions. World War I broke out before any decision could be made. The proposal was “put on ice” and by the time the matter was revived after the war, Ivar Tengbom was busily designing what later became the Stockholm Concert Hall. Meanwhile the Stockholm City Hall was being built under the supervision of Ragnar Östberg. Boberg, Tengbom, and Östberg were probably the most respected architects in Sweden at that time. Because it would have access to both these buildings for its events, the Nobel Foundation now only needed space for its administrative offices. On December 19, 1918, a building at Sturegatan 14 was bought for this purpose. After years of renovation there, the Foundation finally left its cramped premises at Norrlandsgatan 6 in 1926 and moved to Sturegatan 14, where the Foundation has been housed ever since. The enduring legacy of Alfred Nobel was indeed changed from the one he had read back in 1888 in Paris. If it wasn’t for his executors, particularly Ragnar Sohlman, his estate would have been distributed amongst his extensive family and Swedish authorities. It is a story that is a parable on humanity itself. A hugely wealthy and talented man but when faced with his own demise realised that even with all these trappings of success they could not bring happiness and that although it was sorely contested his will was to create a lasting celebration of the best achievements of man in these 115 years.