The Austrians Bertha von Suttner and Alfred H. Fried were leading figures in the European and international peace movement in the decades preceding the First World War. Their great merits were recognized with the award of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1905 and 1911, respectively. Fried was von Suttner’s closest collaborator who had been inspired by her, just as she had inspired her friend Alfred Nobel to leave a legacy for ‘champions of peace’.
While there are many biographies of the Baroness (several in English, or English translation), until recently, there were none of Fried, not even in German. The best one, by Petra Schönemann-Behrens, was published in 2011, coinciding with the 100th anniversary of his Nobel prize. I am delighted that, ten years later, it is now appearing in an English translation. Like so many peace activists of the period, Fried was an Esperantist but he would concede that today English is the undisputed world language. For the first time, readers around the world will be able to learn of the fascinating life of a true pioneer – the founder of peace journalism, author of the first peace encyclopedia, editor of the world’s best peace periodical, and much else.
Professors Edward Larkin and Thomas B. Ahrens are to be congratulated for their translation of this excellent biography. Theirs has been a labor of love – as was so much of the tireless efforts of von Suttner and Fried themselves. Fried died in May 1921; events to commemorate the centenary of his passing in 2021 were either cancelled or held virtually because of the pandemic. It is therefore all the more pleasing that this solid biography is appearing at this time. It should find many readers and will greatly contribute to make its subject much better known and appreciated around the world. Fried’s central message – that the world needs to be better organized, based on a just international legal order, and that armed peace is no peace – has not lost any of its relevance in a world where survival is gravely threatened by nuclear deterrence.
Dr. Peter van den Dungen
Bertha von Suttner Peace Institute, The Hague
July 2021