VON SUTTNER Bertha

Biography:

In June 1843, Countess Bertha Kinsky Von Wchinitz und Tettau was born into an aristocratic family with a military background - her father had been a field marshal and her grandfather a cavalry captain. She was brought up in an upper-class family, but with little income, and received a thorough education. In her youth, she devoted herself to travel, reading and anything else that might contribute to her education: later, her knowledge of languages helped her to achieve success as a peace activist. In 1873, she became governess to the four Von Suttner daughters. While employed by them, she met the family's son, Arthur von Suttner, and their affair was the prelude to her relationship with Alfred Nobel. In 1876, Nobel advertised for a secretary, and the von Suttners, who disapproved of her affair with their son, encouraged Bertha to apply. A single week in Paris was enough to spark a lifelong friendship with Nobel, driven by the desire to put an end to war and restore peace. Bertha then secretly returned home to marry Arthur, and so began nine years of exile that marked the beginning of their literary careers, and later, their personal commitments to peace. On a trip to Paris, Bertha and her husband were introduced by Nobel to the International Arbitration and Peace Organization in London. At this organization, Bertha realized that her aspirations for peace were shared by others who were ready to organize and devote their lives and professions to a political and social movement. This realization inspired her, and she immediately wrote about it in her book "The Machine Age" (1889), which was one of the first books to show the effects of exacerbated nationalism. From this time onwards, she became involved with the Peace League, and put her writing talents at the service of this cause. At the end of 1889, she published "Lay Down Your Arms", a novel detailing the tragedies of war and its impact on human lives. It was a resounding success, with 37 reprints, and was praised by Tolstoy as a book that could help end the war in the same way that Uncle Tom's Cabin had helped abolish slavery. (1) She later helped found the Venetian Peace Group (1891) and the Austrian Peace Society, of which she was president. She set up a fund to create the Permanent International Peace Bureau in Berne (2), and also founded a peace journal "Die Waffen Nieder" (Down with Arms), which she published until 1899, and in which she participated until her death. Through her activities, she maintained contact with Nobel. At that time, she made him a formal promise that she would do her utmost to convince him of the value of her work, keeping him informed and involved in international peace movements. Nobel, who had made a considerable fortune in the civil use of dynamite, had long been interested in peace, but remained skeptical. Nevertheless, he continued to send Bertha substantial financial contributions, and in 1893 wrote her a letter stating his intention to add the creation of a "peace prize" to his will. In 1895, Nobel amended her final will for the last time, stating in her last will and testament that the bulk of her estate was to be allocated to five prizes, including the Nobel Peace Prize, and that it was to be awarded to "the personality who has contributed most or best to the rapprochement of peoples, to the abolition or reduction of standing armies, and to the organization and promotion of peace congresses". Each term had been carefully weighed to ensure that champions of peace, like her, would be rewarded. (3) However, after her death in 1896, five years passed before the first Nobel Peace Prize was awarded, and it wasn't until 1905 that Bertha was presented with the prize. Nevertheless, it's important to note that she was recognized in this way, and was the first woman to win the prize, having initially written under a pseudonym because of her gender. During these years, Bertha continued with her husband - until his death in 1902 - to work for various peace initiatives, seeking support for the Tsar's manifesto and participating in the Hague Peace Conference in 1899. She held a salon in connection with this conference, which marked a milestone in that 25 governments were represented. Thanks to her efforts, the international peace movement began to acquire greater credibility. From the time of her husband's death, Bertha wrote exclusively in favor of peace, and devoted all her efforts to this cause, as she had promised. She took part in the International Peace Congress in Boston in 1904, and played a part in the Anglo-German Friendship Committee in 1905, as well as the Hague Peace Conference in 1907. In 1908, at a peace conference in London, she forcefully expressed her conviction that "Europe is one", and that united efforts could avert a predicted catastrophe. Aged almost 70, she made a second and final lecture tour in 1913. In 1914, she was presumed to have contracted cancer and died in June, just two months before the outbreak of war, which she had tried her utmost to avoid. Since then, her death has been commemorated in many ways: the European Taler bears her effigy, as does an Austrian 2 Euro coin, and a German stamp from 2005 - the year 2005 having been chosen as the year of her commemoration by the International Peace Bureau (IPB). A memorial has been erected in her honor in Australia's Rotary Peace Park, and her portrait appears on the reports of the Women's International League for Peace. (1) Tolstoy's letter to Bertha von Suttner dated October 12, 1891, according to sources quoted in an article about him in the New World Encyclopedia. (2) Still in existence today, 100 years later, as the International Peace Bureau in Geneva, with 480 members (in 2010) at international, national, regional and individual level. (3) Source: "The Nobel Peace Prize: What Alfred Nobel really wanted", by Frederik Heffermehl, Editions Praeger, 2010.