Bertha von Suttner
- Material
- Oak, glazed ceramic by Lubomír Ivanov, acrylic binder, powder pigments
- Size
- v. 280 cm
- Medium
- Sculpture
- Location
- Klánovice, Prague
- Subtitle
- Ad honorem Ideis Silentiorum — In honour of silenced ideas
With her novel Lay Down Your Arms!, Bertha von Suttner shocked the whole world in 1889. She stood against national fanaticism, aggressive war propaganda, hatred and antisemitism, and became a symbol of the peace movement. She travelled across Europe and America and met Émile Zola, Tsar Nicholas II and Theodore Roosevelt.
She also won Alfred Nobel over to her ideas; they became close friends and stayed in touch for twenty years. They wrote to each other, and some studies say Nobel was in love with her. Her personality in any case moved him to establish a prize for peace. In 1905 von Suttner became the first woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.
As a woman she made her voice heard in the fight for peace and was able to tell everyone: “Yes, peace is worth fighting for.” She asserted herself at a time when that was anything but usual. People called her a mad woman who should look after children and family instead of campaigning for peace. In essence, she was a true pioneer.
