Bertha von Suttner

(1843-1914)

Bertha von Suttner

Bertha von Suttner (née Countess Bertha Kinsky) was an Austrian noble woman, author and peace activist. She came to work as a secretary for Alfred Nobel in Paris in 1876. After only a couple of months she left her job and returned to Vienna to get married. Bertha von Suttner maintained an extensive correspondence with Alfred Nobel and was very critical of the military applications of dynamite. She worked very actively for the peace movement in Austria and Germany. Among her books is a classic Die Waffen nieder (Lay Down Your Arms) published in 1889. She also published a pacifist journal with the same name. Nine years after the death of Alfred Nobel, in 1905, the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded her the Nobel Peace Prize.