1 00:00:00,280 --> 00:00:02,000 Speaker 1: The Day in History Class. It's a production of I 2 00:00:02,080 --> 00:00:08,959 Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Hi again, Welcome to this day in History Class, 3 00:00:09,320 --> 00:00:15,720 Speaker 1: where history waits for no One. Today is June nine, nineteen. 4 00:00:22,520 --> 00:00:29,120 Speaker 1: The day was June ninety three. Baroness Bretta Felicia Zophie 5 00:00:29,240 --> 00:00:35,280 Speaker 1: von Sutna was born Countess Kinsky von Schanzu Tao in Prague, Bohemia. 6 00:00:35,960 --> 00:00:38,680 Speaker 1: Sutner wrote many novels and was a leader in the 7 00:00:38,720 --> 00:00:42,280 Speaker 1: Austrian peace movement, and her work earned her a Nobel 8 00:00:42,400 --> 00:00:47,320 Speaker 1: Peace Prize, the first ever awarded to a woman. Berta's father, 9 00:00:47,520 --> 00:00:51,760 Speaker 1: Count Franz Joseph Kinsky, died just before she was born. 10 00:00:52,360 --> 00:00:55,440 Speaker 1: He was a retired high ranking officer in the army. 11 00:00:56,120 --> 00:01:00,480 Speaker 1: Her mother was named Sophie Velamina von Corner. She was 12 00:01:00,520 --> 00:01:03,800 Speaker 1: about fifty years younger than her deceased husband, and she 13 00:01:03,920 --> 00:01:07,360 Speaker 1: did not get married again after her husband died and 14 00:01:07,640 --> 00:01:10,919 Speaker 1: used the family's inheritance to raise Berta and her brother. 15 00:01:12,120 --> 00:01:15,480 Speaker 1: Berta was a member of the aristocracy, but she was 16 00:01:15,560 --> 00:01:18,840 Speaker 1: also shunned by the high aristocracy because of her parents 17 00:01:19,000 --> 00:01:23,280 Speaker 1: mixed social status. Is In her younger years, she studied 18 00:01:23,440 --> 00:01:27,039 Speaker 1: music and she read a bunch of books through her 19 00:01:27,080 --> 00:01:32,080 Speaker 1: governesses tutors and travels throughout Europe. Berta became fluent in 20 00:01:32,120 --> 00:01:36,959 Speaker 1: French and English in addition to German. In eighteen seventy three, 21 00:01:37,319 --> 00:01:40,479 Speaker 1: she became a governess for the Baron von Sutner family 22 00:01:40,560 --> 00:01:44,000 Speaker 1: in Lower Austria. While there, she fell in love with 23 00:01:44,040 --> 00:01:48,280 Speaker 1: the youngest son of the family, Baron Artur Gundakar von Sutner. 24 00:01:49,080 --> 00:01:52,320 Speaker 1: In eighteen seventy six, Bertel went to Paris to apply 25 00:01:52,480 --> 00:01:56,520 Speaker 1: for a job as Alfred Nobel's secretary. Alfred Nobele was 26 00:01:56,560 --> 00:02:00,400 Speaker 1: a Swedish chemist and engineer who invented dynam night and 27 00:02:00,440 --> 00:02:04,960 Speaker 1: founded the Nobel Prizes. But she soon returned to Austria 28 00:02:05,040 --> 00:02:10,080 Speaker 1: and eloped with Sutner, acquiring the title of Baroness. Though 29 00:02:10,120 --> 00:02:13,639 Speaker 1: she left within weeks of arriving in Paris, Verta kindled 30 00:02:13,680 --> 00:02:16,680 Speaker 1: a friendship with Nobel that lasted until his death in 31 00:02:16,760 --> 00:02:20,560 Speaker 1: eighteen ninety six. The Suitures were not too happy with 32 00:02:20,600 --> 00:02:23,919 Speaker 1: our tour and Arta's marriage, so the couple went off 33 00:02:23,960 --> 00:02:27,480 Speaker 1: to the Caucusus to live for nine years. They earned 34 00:02:27,520 --> 00:02:31,120 Speaker 1: a living there by teaching language and music as well 35 00:02:31,160 --> 00:02:36,359 Speaker 1: as writing. Berta wrote for literary papers using a pseudonym, 36 00:02:36,400 --> 00:02:40,000 Speaker 1: and she wrote several books during this time, including Inventory 37 00:02:40,080 --> 00:02:42,720 Speaker 1: of a Soul, in which she argued for peace through 38 00:02:42,760 --> 00:02:48,040 Speaker 1: technological progress and advocated for disarmament. Never having lost her 39 00:02:48,080 --> 00:02:52,440 Speaker 1: love for reading, she studied Charles Darwin, Herbert Spencer, Henry 40 00:02:52,440 --> 00:02:57,080 Speaker 1: Thomas Buckle, and Emmanuel Kant. In eighteen eighty five, the 41 00:02:57,120 --> 00:03:00,280 Speaker 1: couple went back to Austria, where they kept writing, but 42 00:03:00,720 --> 00:03:03,560 Speaker 1: having already been close to the Russell Turkish War of 43 00:03:03,639 --> 00:03:07,400 Speaker 1: eighteen seventy seven eighteen seventy eight, she was familiar with 44 00:03:07,480 --> 00:03:12,000 Speaker 1: how devastating war could be. Two years after they returned home, 45 00:03:12,400 --> 00:03:16,960 Speaker 1: Bear to begin working with the International Arbitration and Peace Association. 46 00:03:17,639 --> 00:03:22,119 Speaker 1: After learning about pacifism and employing peace arbitration rather than 47 00:03:22,280 --> 00:03:26,000 Speaker 1: armed force, she began including her ideals of peace in 48 00:03:26,040 --> 00:03:29,960 Speaker 1: her writing. Her book The Machine Age, originally published in 49 00:03:30,000 --> 00:03:34,720 Speaker 1: eighteen eighty nine under the pseudonym Yemond meaning Someone, she 50 00:03:34,760 --> 00:03:38,520 Speaker 1: wrote about how technological and economic progress would end war. 51 00:03:39,480 --> 00:03:42,640 Speaker 1: Lay Down Your Arms, another book she published in eighteen 52 00:03:42,680 --> 00:03:47,080 Speaker 1: eighty nine, was more successful than the first Russian author. 53 00:03:47,160 --> 00:03:51,000 Speaker 1: Leo Tolstoy even compared it to Harriet Beetristoe's Uncle Tom's 54 00:03:51,000 --> 00:03:54,560 Speaker 1: Cabin and Anti Slavery novel that is known for inspiring 55 00:03:54,560 --> 00:03:59,520 Speaker 1: abolitionism and its stereotypes of black people. The book garnered 56 00:03:59,520 --> 00:04:03,640 Speaker 1: her concern durable attention in the peace movement. Bart started 57 00:04:03,680 --> 00:04:07,400 Speaker 1: an Austrian branch of the international peace movement, called the 58 00:04:07,480 --> 00:04:12,520 Speaker 1: Austrian Peace Society in eighteen ninety one. Around this time, 59 00:04:12,920 --> 00:04:16,560 Speaker 1: she went to her first international peace congress, the Universal 60 00:04:16,640 --> 00:04:20,080 Speaker 1: Peace Conference in Rome, and started a fund to establish 61 00:04:20,160 --> 00:04:24,360 Speaker 1: the burn Peace Bureau. She wanted to encourage a unified 62 00:04:24,400 --> 00:04:28,240 Speaker 1: Europe and warn't against the ills of nationalism. Bear To 63 00:04:28,440 --> 00:04:32,560 Speaker 1: also co edited and published Die Vafanta, a peace journal 64 00:04:32,720 --> 00:04:37,480 Speaker 1: with Alfred Hermann Freed. Her husband co founded an organization 65 00:04:37,600 --> 00:04:41,480 Speaker 1: that fought against anti Semitism in Austria. Bear To continued 66 00:04:41,520 --> 00:04:44,000 Speaker 1: on this same path for the rest of her life. 67 00:04:44,279 --> 00:04:48,640 Speaker 1: She wrote articles denouncing war and war mongering. After her 68 00:04:48,720 --> 00:04:51,800 Speaker 1: husband died in nineteen o two, she carried on their 69 00:04:51,880 --> 00:04:56,560 Speaker 1: work of social activism. In nineteen oh five, Bert became 70 00:04:56,600 --> 00:05:00,240 Speaker 1: the first woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. She 71 00:05:00,320 --> 00:05:03,240 Speaker 1: had played a part in convincing Alfred Noble of the 72 00:05:03,279 --> 00:05:06,240 Speaker 1: peace movement, and he wrote her a letter in eighteen 73 00:05:06,320 --> 00:05:09,880 Speaker 1: ninety three, three years before his death, saying he hoped 74 00:05:09,920 --> 00:05:14,240 Speaker 1: to establish a peace Prize. She lectured on the progress 75 00:05:14,279 --> 00:05:17,680 Speaker 1: necessary to achieve peace, and she attended the first and 76 00:05:17,760 --> 00:05:22,160 Speaker 1: second International Peace Conference in eighteen ninety nine. In nineteen 77 00:05:22,160 --> 00:05:25,200 Speaker 1: oh seven, she also made a couple of trips to 78 00:05:25,240 --> 00:05:28,400 Speaker 1: the United States. Her nineteen twelve trip was a six 79 00:05:28,560 --> 00:05:33,200 Speaker 1: month lecture tour. Barita faced ridicule from people who supported 80 00:05:33,520 --> 00:05:37,200 Speaker 1: war or anti Semitism, and she was often perceived as 81 00:05:37,320 --> 00:05:40,680 Speaker 1: naive for her goals of peace, but she was prominent 82 00:05:40,720 --> 00:05:44,880 Speaker 1: among pacifist circles, which mainly consisted of men, and she 83 00:05:44,960 --> 00:05:48,880 Speaker 1: became known as the Generalissimo of the peace movement. She 84 00:05:49,040 --> 00:05:53,120 Speaker 1: died on June twenty one, nineteen fourteen, of suspected cancer. 85 00:05:54,440 --> 00:05:57,800 Speaker 1: Vienna's first hosting of the Universal Peace Congress, to be 86 00:05:57,880 --> 00:06:01,240 Speaker 1: held in September, was canceled because of the July Crisis, 87 00:06:01,640 --> 00:06:04,880 Speaker 1: a conflict that began with an assassination of Archduke Franz 88 00:06:04,880 --> 00:06:09,400 Speaker 1: Ferdinand and Sarajevo. I'm Eve Jeff Coote and hopefully you 89 00:06:09,440 --> 00:06:13,120 Speaker 1: know a little more about history today than you did yesterday. 90 00:06:13,600 --> 00:06:17,839 Speaker 1: You can follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook at 91 00:06:18,000 --> 00:06:23,240 Speaker 1: t d I h C podcast and if you haven't already. 92 00:06:23,440 --> 00:06:25,680 Speaker 1: You can listen to a new podcast that I host 93 00:06:25,760 --> 00:06:29,360 Speaker 1: called Unpopular. Unpopular as a show about people in history 94 00:06:29,400 --> 00:06:32,840 Speaker 1: who challenge the status quo and we're sometimes persecuted for it. 95 00:06:33,680 --> 00:06:39,200 Speaker 1: Thanks again for listening and we'll see you tomorrow. For 96 00:06:39,240 --> 00:06:42,000 Speaker 1: more podcasts from I Heeart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, 97 00:06:42,040 --> 00:06:44,640 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.