Towards a Bertha von Suttner Peace Museum in Vienna, 1914–2014 (2010)

The Austrian baroness Bertha von Suttner did more than any other woman to prevent war in 1914. Following the success of her antiwar novel, Lay Down Your Arms (1889), she became a much-admired leader of the international peace movement until her death in June 1914. A friend of Alfred Nobel, she was the first woman to receive his peace prize in 1905 and was one of the most famous women of her day. Plans for a museum devoted to her “life for peace” which have existed since 1914 have not yet come to fruition. Her courageous campaign for a world without war, and numerous publications and public addresses, continue to inspire and encourage people today, not least women and girls. She lived and died in Vienna; a Bertha von Suttner Peace Museum would be a living monument to her and a splendid addition to the city’s many great museums.