“After the verb ‘to love’, ‘to help’ is the most beautiful verb in the world.”
By Peace Hero Museum Vienna
Austrian novelist, Bertha von Suttner, is a well-known international peace activist. She was the first woman to receive the Noble Peace Prize. Bertha was born in Prague (Austro-Hungarian Empire) in 1843. She studied music and languages.
In 1873, she moved to Vienna to tutor the daughters of the Suttner family and met her future husband Baron Arthur Gundaccar von Suttner. She then shortly worked as Alfred Nobel’s secretor in Paris. Because of disapproval of their marriage by the Sutter family, Bertha von Suttner and her husband moved to the Caucasus. She taught music and languages there for almost nine years. She also wrote several novels along with her husband. In 1885, they came back to Vienna.
In 1889, she published her famous novel “Die Waffen nieder!” (Lay Down Your Arms!). Her book attracted the attention of peace lovers around the world. The book was translated into all European languages.
In 1891, she established the “Austrian Society of the Friends of Peace” and served as the president of it until her death. In 1892, she formed the journal of “Die Waffen Nieder” and remained editor until 1899.
Bertha von Suttner attended several international peace conferences and gave numerous lectures and speeches on peace. In 1899, she participated in the Hague Peace Conference and in 1904, participated in Universal Peace Congress in Boston.
Bertha von Suttner’s prominence in peace activities and her novel, ‘Lay Down Your Arms!’ inspired Alfred Nobel to establish his Nobel Peace Prize. In 1905, she won the prize and became the first woman to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.