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Berta von Suttner 1843-1914
“This is the story of a nineteenth-century woman whom most contemporaries thought of as a utopian, or worse, a fool; and in the end, her cause went unheeded. Her famous call, ‘Lay Down Your Arms!’ which sounded more and more desperate with time, echoed in vain throughout a Europe that was feverish with nationalism and wanted war, a Europe that derided the warnings of ‘Peace Bertha’ as the words of a hysteric female busybody.” --Brigitte Hamann
Born Berta Sophie Felicitas Countess Kinsky von Chinic und Tettau, June 9, 1843, in Prague • Her father, Franz Joseph Kinsky, a general from a family with a long militaristic tradition, dies at age 75 before Berta was born • Her mother, Sophia, is a commoner and therefore does not have equal status with other Kinsky family members
1867 (24) Goes to Paris to study singing • She masters three foreign languages • 1873 (30) Begins working as a governess for the von Suttners’ four daughters “Blessed be the day that led me to this house. It was the bud from which the centifolia of my happiness unfolded. The day that opened the gate through which the Bertha von Suttner was to walk who . . . Is the person I feel I am today.”
Berta falls in love with Arthur von Suttner, seven years her junior, and he returns her love • After three years of secrecy, Arthur’s mother finally notices and Berta must leave “I have never known a single person, not one, who was not enchanted by Arthur Gundaccar von Suttner. As rare as white ravens are the creatures who radiate such an irresistible charm that everyone, both young and old, high and low, are spellbound; Arthur Gundaccar was such a person. The room became twice as bright and warm when he entered it.”
Arthur’s mother draws Berta’s attention to a newspaper ad: “A very wealthy, highly educated, older gentleman who lives in Paris, seeks a lady well versed in languages, also elderly, as secretary and for supervision of the household.” • 1876 (33) Berta takes a position with Swedish scientist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite
“He wrote intelligently and wittily, but in a melancholy tone. The man seemed to feel unhappy, to be a misanthrope, very broadly educated, with a deeply philosophical far-sightedness. He, the Swede whose second language was Russian, wrote German, French and English with the same correctness and elegance.” Nobel led an unsettled life commuting to his factories and laboratories all over the world. He developed a reputation as the “richest hitchhiker in the world,” without a private life, without social contracts, shy and distrustful. “I was unhappy. Simply miserable. Homesickness, longing, the pain of parting made me suffer in a way I did not think possible. When I was alone all I could do was weep or write home or groan with lovesickness.”
“[Nobel] was so fascinating when he chatted, told stories, philosophized, that his conversations held my attention in total captivity. Talking to him about the world and people, about art and life, about the problems of time and eternity was a great intellectual pleasure.” Prague Paris They talk about war and peace: Nobel does not consider organized pacifism but believes “new knowledge, new discoveries, ideal works of art should enrich and beautify the world, and the basic prerequisite for the guarantee of all these products of all progress: PEACE.”
“[Nobel] placed complete trust in the abstract ideal of a higher human being to come—’when the people with better developed brains are finally born’—but full of mistrust for most of the people of the present since he had had occasion to meet so many of low, selfish, insincere character.” Paris “He was also mistrustful of himself and shy to the point of timidity. He thought he was repulsive, believed he could not inspire liking in anyone; was always afraid that people flattered him because of his enormous wealth. That’s why he never married.” Vienna
“[Nobel] was also a writer and poet, but he never published any of his poetic works. He gave me a manuscript to read, a poem a hundred pages long, composed in English—I found it absolutely magnificent.” • They grow close enough for him to notice in her a “hidden sorrow,” and he asks her, “Is your heart free?” • While Nobel is away, Berta receives a message from Arthur: “Can’t live without you!”
After only eight days with Alfred Nobel, Berta leaves for Vienna and she and Arthur von Suttner are secretly married on June 12, 1876. • They “escape” to the Caucasus where for nine years they earn an often precarious living by giving lessons in languages and music and eventually, and more successfully, by writing.
1884 (41) Berta’s mother dies and Berta feels guilty about having left her alone • During the Balkan crisis, where Russia and Austria-Hungary were enemies, Berta stands up against a denunciation of the Russian people as Austria’s archenemy. “They don’t know each other. Imagining the Russian people as a warmongering folk is a complete mistake. On the contrary, they are one of the most peaceful, best-tempered people there are.”
1885 (41) Berta and Arthur return to Austria as established writers. • Living with Arthur’s family makes it difficult to continue their work but “we continued with our academic studies, always read the same books together, and also wrote together.” • They both become politically involved, with liberal views but never joining any political party. • “As long as politicians carry on feuds with each other instead of working together toward a clearly recognized goal; as long as cleverness used for personal means is considered statesmanship, the representatives of the people will not achieve anything beneficial to the people.”
She writes High Life, criticizing the Austrian aristocracy: “The aristocracy in Austria still assumes a highly privileged position indeed, as far as the prestige it enjoys among the lower classes is concerned, and the homage it pays to itself. I found the English aristocracy proud, the French vain—but the Austrian is arrogant.” • She describes an imagined battle: “flowing blood, the scream of pain through the rattle of death, skulls bashed in by hooves, swelling intestines, the dying in the ditches, parched with thirst, and the living buried in the ditches.”
She models her work after the realism of such writers as Emil Zola. When Arthur’s mother finds some of Zola’s books in the palace, she burns them. • 1889 (46) She publishes Das Maschinenzeitalter [The Machine Age] which foretells the results of exaggerated nationalism and armaments.Later that year she publishes a book titled Die Waffen nieder (Lay Down Your Arms). Only one other 19th-century book was more popular -- Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Nobel writes, "I have just finished reading your masterpiece. . . [and]there is not a single language into which your excellent work should not be translated, and then read and dwelt upon." He also calls her "an Amazon who so valiantly wages war on war."
1891 (48) Berta helps form a Venetian peace group, initiates the Austrian Peace Society of which she is for a long time the president, attends her first international peace congress, and starts the fund needed to establish the Bern Peace Bureau. • 1892 (49) Berta invites Nobel to join in a Peace Congress she has organized. Nobel contributes money and attends incognito. Nobel insists the best way to end war is to create a weapon so vicious as to make war unthinkable.
1893 (50) She receives a letter from Nobel discussing an idea for a peace prize. • 1896 (53) Nobel dies. The Nobel Prizes had been set in his will. It was clear they'd include Physics, Chemistry, Medicine, and Literature. As for the Peace Prize, his and Berta's letters argued over its form. Offering it for efforts at disarmament, he felt, would be futile. It should instead reward efforts at arbitration and ending the prejudices that caused war. • 1901 (58) First Nobel Prizes awarded, including the Peace Prize.
1902 (59) Arthur, her husband, dies. • 1904 (61) She attends International Peace Congress in Boston • 1905 (62) Berta von Suttner is awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace, the first woman to win this award. • 1912 (69) She visits America for a second lecture tour.
She dies June 21, 1914, (71) in Vienna, seven days before the Crown Prince of Austria, Franz Ferdinand, along with his wife, is assassinated in Sarajevo. Among her last words were • “Lay down your arms, tell everybody!”
