Bertha von Suttner (Born: Kinsky) (1843 – 1914)

The writer, pacifist and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, Countess Bertha Kinsky, was born on June 9, 1843 in Prague, Austrian Empire (Czechoslovakia after 1918, Czech Republic since 1993) on June 9 1843. She would marry Gundaccar von Suttner in 1876 and take his name.

Bertha Von Suttner’s career as a pacifist achieved national recognition with the publication of her novel, Die Waffen nieder! (Lay Down your Arms) in 1889. In 1891 she founded the Austrian pacifist organization, Die Waffen nieder, named for her novel. She then began to edit the pacifist journal by the same name. In the following years she wrote, spoke and worked incessantly in the cause of peace. She became known as the “generalissimo” of the peace movement.

In 1905 she became the first woman ever to win the Nobel Prize for Peace. Suttner died on June 21, 1914 in Vienna shortly before the outbreak of World War I.

Bertha, Freifrau von Suttner wurde am 9. Juni 1843 in Prag geboren und starb am 21. Juni 1914 in Wien. Die österreichische Romanschriftstellerin war eine der ersten Pazifistinnen. Ihrem wesentlichen Einfluß ist es zu verdanken, daß Alfred Nobel den Friedensnobelpreis, den von Suttner 1905 erhielt, einrichtete. Ihr Hauptroman “Die Waffen nieder” wird mit Stowe's “Uncle Tom's Cabin” bezüglich Popularität und Einfluß auf eine Stufe gesetzt.