Bertha Sophia Felicita Baroness von Suttner was born Countess Kinsky von Chinic und Tettau in Prague on June 9, 1843. The Austrian pacifist and writer initially had to publish under pseudonyms and became known as "B. Oulot" and "Jemand". She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1905 and was the most famous woman of her time worldwide.
This book commemorates the great writers whose books were burned by the National Socialists. Adolf Hitler wanted the works of these authors to be forgotten. He almost succeeded, because in the decades following the Second World War, no one took any notice of the books and writers who once shaped society. In honor of these great authors and to combat oblivion, we are publishing this book, which has lost none of its significance to this day.
Rodja Smolny (Publisher)
Lay down your arms!, Bertha von Suttner, paperback, 276 pages, 14,80€
Jun -
Bertha von Suttner makes two facts clearly and vividly clear in "Lay down your arms!": firstly, the power of upbringing and imprinting over people as individuals and the society in which they live, and secondly, how difficult, laborious and discouraging it is to be in the minority with one's thoughts and feelings and to try to break with traditional conditioning and indoctrination.
For centuries, teachers, statesmen, historians, thinkers and, last but not least, the Church have been telling the people of the Christian West - from the nobility to the bourgeoisie and peasants, right down to the maidservants and farmhands - what a noble, magnificent and glorious thing war is. There was nothing greater and more noble for a man than to go to war to glorify and consolidate the power and glory of his fatherland. Men and women had to put their love of country above that of their spouse, children and relatives.
Nevertheless, Bertha von Suttner also shows that in the middle of the 19th century, other voices were speaking out who saw war as humanity's relapse into raw, primitive barbarism, with devastating consequences that would destroy the economy and culture.
In my view, "Lay Down Your Arms!" is more topical, relevant and important in our time than it has been since the end of the Second World War. I would like Bertha von Suttner's novel to act as a counterweight to the voices of the populists who are once again inciting people against each other with incendiary speeches and hate slogans. But if blind, phrase-mongering fanaticism - regardless of whether it emanates from radical Islamists or right-wing nationalists - gains the upper hand again, those who call for reason and prudence will be in a losing position.
It is up to all of us to decide what kind of world we want to live in - in a community based on reason and consensus, which accepts, respects and recognizes people's opinions and personalities with their strengths and weaknesses and their thoughts and feelings, or in a gigantic slaughterhouse in which everyone rages and rages against everyone else until one tears the other apart in an orgy of hatred and violence.
It's still not too late. We can still vote. In my opinion, Bertha von Suttner's call: "Lay down your arms!" should be heard around the world and make people sit up and take notice. The time has come ...