Alfred Hermann Fried – Biography
Alfred Hermann Fried
was born in Vienna, but pursued most of his active journalistic career
in Germany. Leaving school at the age of fifteen, he worked in his
native city as a bookseller, then a few years later went to Berlin
where he opened his own press in 1887.
Influenced by Bertha von Suttner (Nobel
Peace Prize for 1905) Fried became interested in the peace movement,
founded the Deutsche Friedensgesellschaft, and edited its major publication,
Monatliche Friedenskorrespondenz, from 1894 to 1899. Having
persuaded Baroness von Suttner to serve as editor, he started a peace
journal, naming it Die Waffen Nieder!, the title of the Baroness'
famous 1889 antiwar novel. In 1899 this was replaced by Die Friedenswarte
[The Peace Watch], which he edited and which Norman Angell (Nobel
Peace Prize for 1933) called «the most efficient periodical
of the Pacifist movement in the world». This publication, which
was addressed to an audience of intellectuals, has had a continuous
history to the present time; edited by Fried until his death in 1921,
then by Hans Wehberg, it was moved to Zürich in 1933. In 1905
Fried founded another journal, Annuaire de la vie internationale,
which reflected his growing interest in international cooperation,
particularly as exemplified by the Pan-American movement and the work
of the Hague Conferences.
The peace literature which flowed from his pen - reports, editorials,
essays, pamphlets, books - was extensive, but he also contributed
to the cause his capacity as an organizer. He was a member of the
Bern Peace Bureau, secretary of the International Conciliation for
Central Europe, and secretary-general of the Union internationale
de la presse pour la paix.
The Hague Peace Conference of 1899 was a turning point in the development
of Fried's philosophy of pacifism. Thereafter, in his appeals to the
German intellectual community he placed more reliance on economic
cooperation and political organization among nations as bases for
peace, and less upon limitation of armaments and schemes for international
justice. «War is not in itself a condition so much as the symptom
of a condition, that of international anarchy», he wrote. «If
we wish to substitute for war the settlement of disputes by justice,
we must first substitute for the condition of international anarchy
a condition of international order.»
Fried's efforts were partly responsible for the founding of the Verband
für internationale Verständigung in 1911. His theory of
internationalism did not preclude nationalism. In the Pan-American
movement he perceived a model for the preservation of national identity
within international organization. In keeping with this position,
Fried defended Germany before World War I by chronicling Wilhelm II's
positive attitude toward world peace and during the war by refuting
what he considered to be unreasonable criticism of Germany in the
French, British, and American press.
Fried was in Vienna when war broke out in 1914. Since pacifist activities
there were curtailed by government censorship and intolerant public
opinion, Fried shifted his organizational and journalistic work to
Switzerland. He was active in efforts to ameliorate the conditions
of prisoners of war and continued to publish Die Friedenswarte
as a rallying point for international peace efforts. Accused of treason
by the Austrian government, he was unable to return to Vienna until
the war's end.
The war over, Fried published Mein Kriegstagebuch, a «diary»
which he kept during the war years to record his sentiments and his
activities, along with those of his colleagues in the peace movement;
he expressed dissatisfaction with the peace settlement and organized
a journalistic campaign against the Versailles Treaty; he tirelessly
pressed the point in his propaganda for peace that the war was proof
of the validity of the pacifistic analysis of world politics.
Fried lost what wealth he possessed in the collapse of Austria-Hungary
and died in poverty of a lung infection in Vienna on 05 May 1921.
Selected Bibliography: Encyclopaedia Judaica.
— Das Abrüstungs-Problem: Eine Untersuchung (1904) —
The German Emperor and the Peace of the World (1912). — Die
Grundlagen des revolutionären Pacifismus (1908) — Handbuch
der Friedenshewegung (1905) — International Cooperation
(1918) — Das internationale Leben der Gegenwar (1908) —
Mein Kriegstagebuch (1920). — Pan-Amerika (1910) —
The Restoration of Europe (1916)
Alfred Hermann Fried war ein Österreichischer Pazifist und Publizist.
Geboren: 1864 Gestorben: 1921 Gründete und war der Herrausgeber der in
1891 in Berlin erscheinenden pazifistischen Zeitung »Die Waffen Nieder!«,
ab 1899 wurde diese Zeitschrift »Die Friedenswarte« genannt. Weiterhin
gründete er dir Deutsche Friedens Gesellschaft ind 1892. Bekam in 1911
mit Tobias Asser den Friedensnobelpreis für internationale Friedensbewegung.
Flüchtete in die Schweiz als der erste Weltkrieg ausbrach. Einige seiner
Werke: Blätter für internationale Verständigung und zwischenstaatliche
Organisation Handbuch der Friedensbewegung (1911-13) Mein Kriegstagebuch
(1918-20)
Samples of Fried's poetry:
