Nobel Peace Prize 1905: Bertha von Suttner
The 2025 Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to María Corina Machado., the Venezuelan opposition leader who fought for democracy in her country for years. A crowning achievement of her courage and perseverance as she “keeps the fire of democracy burning amidst growing darkness,” according to the Norwegian Nobel Committee. But do you know the Austrian Bertha von Suttner? The pacifist became the first woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize in 1905. Stamps and euro coins bearing her image have been issued. Perhaps in your album too?
Bertha von Suttner
Bertha Sophie Felicitas Baroness von Suttner (1843 – 1914) was an Austro-Hungarian-born radical pacifist. She was the first woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.
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She was born Countess Kinsky von Wchinitz und Tettau, a member of a Bohemian noble family, and became a committed peace activist in the course of her life. Through a stay in the Caucasus during the Russo-Turkish War, she had come to know the horrors of war. She gave form to her abhorrence of war in the novel. Lay down your weapons! (Dutch translation: Laying Down Arms), translated into 16 languages, and sold in hundreds of thousands of copies. [one_half]
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In 1889, Von Suttner published the pacifist novel *Die Waffen nieder!* (Lay Down Your Arms!). The book caused a great stir and made her one of the most prominent representatives of the peace movement. She described the horrors of war from the perspective of a wife. In doing so, she touched a raw nerve in society, where intense debate was taking place at the time regarding militarism and war. The novel became her great success – it went through 37 editions and was translated into 16 languages.
Previously, war was written about in veiled terms—about heroism and the honor of the fatherland. The heroes were revered, dead or alive. But Von Suttner described the horrors of war and the consequences for everyone affected by it without embellishment. Von Suttner received an overwhelming number of appreciative reactions. However, the book ran counter to the proud militarism in her family and her country. Consequently, alongside being praised, she was also widely ridiculed and criticized. The significance of her book can be compared to that of Uncle Tom's Cabin, which was essential in the abolition of slavery. Similarly, *Die Waffen nieder!* was essential for the development of the global peace movement. Suddenly, Von Suttner was an internationally known personality.
In numerous articles and lectures, she continued her plea for peace. She initiated peace congresses and took the initiative to establish peace movements in various countries. She advocated for an international Court of Arbitration so that countries could submit their conflicts to this Court instead of waging war over them. When the first international peace conference at the government level was convened in 1899, Von Suttner felt this was the culmination of her work. At this First Peace Conference, held at Huis ten Bosch Palace (then still located in Wassenaar), it was decided to establish a Court of Arbitration – the Peace Palace in The Hague was later built to house this Court.
Nobel Peace Prize 1905
Another admirer of her ideas was Alfred Nobel, for whom she had also worked briefly as a secretary. She was one of the people who persuaded him to establish the Nobel Peace Prize. On December 10, 1905, Bertha von Suttner became the first woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize—inspired in part by her work—which was being awarded for the fifth time that year. She was widely applauded in Wiesbaden. In her own country, the fact that she had received the Nobel Prize was hushed up—telling of the prevailing mentality in Austria at the time. She was later honored in Austria after all: her likeness appears on the two-euro coins minted in Austria.
In 1907, she was also present at the Second Peace Conference in The Hague. This conference was focused more on the laws of war than on the issue of stable peacekeeping. In response, she attempted to point out the dangers of international armament and the interests of the arms industry. From 1912 onwards, she also drew attention to the danger of an international war of annihilation.
After the First Peace Conference, Andrew Carnegie established a fund to enable the construction of a Peace Palace to house the Court of Arbitration in The Hague. Carnegie was an admirer of Bertha von Suttner. Not only did he donate the money for the construction of the Peace Palace, but he also granted Von Suttner a pension on which she could live during her final years. At the opening of the Peace Palace in 1913, Bertha von Suttner was present as the only woman (besides Queen Wilhelmina).
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She passed away in Vienna at the age of seventy-one from the effects of a stomach tumor that could not be operated on due to her obesity and age. Her cremation took place in Gotha. The urn containing her ashes is kept in the columbarium in Gotha.
Nice to be able to link the story to the 2 euro coin.
Keep up the good work, Randy.