Rosika
Schwimmer
was
born into a Jewish family in Budapest, Austria-Hungary,
on 11th September, 1877. While working as a bookkeeper in Budapest
she helped establish the National
Association of Women Office Workers and served as its president between
1897 and 1912.
Schwimmer was active in the campaign for women's suffrage in Austria-Hungary
and in 1913 was elected as corresponding secretary of the International
Woman Suffrage Alliance (IWSA).
Schwimmer and Carrie
Chapman Catt,
the president of the IWSA, went on a successful speaking tour of Eastern
Europe. The following year, Schwimmer, who spoke nine languages, moved
to London to serve as IWSA's press secretary.
On the outbreak of the First
World War Schwimmer, a pacifist,
decided not to return to
Austria-Hungary.
In
1914 she travelled to the United States where she had meetings with
President Woodrow Wilson and his Secretary
of State, William Jennings Bryan, and urged
them to use their influence to bring the war to an end.
In January, 1915, Schwimmer joined with other pacifists
to form the Woman's
Peace Party. Schwimmer's close
friend, Jane Addams, was elected chairman
and other women involved in the organization included
Mary
McDowell,
Florence Kelley, Alice
Hamilton, Anna
Howard Shaw, Belle
La Follette, Fanny
Garrison Villard,
Emily
Balch,
Jeanette Rankin, Lillian
Wald, Edith
Abbott,
Grace Abbott,
Crystal
Eastman, Carrie
Chapman Catt, Emily
Bach, and Sophonisba Breckinridge.
In April 1915, Arletta
Jacobs, a suffragist in Holland, invited members of the Woman's
Peace Party to an International Congress of Women in the Hague.
Jane Addams was asked to chair the meeting
and Alice Hamilton, Grace
Abbott and Emily Bach went as delegates
from the United States. Schwimmer represented Austria-Hungary
and others who went to the Hague included Lida Gustava Heymann (Germany);
Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence, Emily
Hobhouse, (England); Chrystal Macmillan
(Scotland).
After the meeting in Holland, Schwimmer,
Jane
Addams,
Chrystal
Macmillan
and Emily
Bach
went to London, Berlin, Vienna, Budapest, Rome, Berne and Paris to
speak with members of the various governments in Europe in an attempt
to bring the war to an end.
Schwimmer joined three other anti-war
campaigners, Jane Addams, Oswald
Garrison Villard, and Paul
Kellogg to
meet
Henry Ford, the wealthy American businessman,
and suggested he should sponsor an international conference in Stockholm
to discuss ways that the conflict could be brought to an end.
Ford came up with the idea of sending a boat of pacifists
to Europe to see if they could negotiate an agreement that would end
the war. He chartered the ship Oskar
II, and it sailed from Hoboken,
New Jersey on 4th December, 1915. The Ford
Peace Ship reached Stockholm in January, 1916,
and a conference was organized with representatives from Denmark,
Holland, Norway, Sweden and the United States. However, unable to
persuade representatives from the warring nations to take part, the
conference was unable to negotiate an Armistice.
Schwimmer became vice-president of the Women's
International League for Peace and Freedom. After the Armistice
Schwimmer became a member of the new Hungarian
government. She was Hungarian minister to Switzerland until the prime
minister, Mihaly Karolyi was ousted
in 1919. The fascist regime of Nicolas Horthy began to purge Jews
from positions of authority and Schwimmer had to be smuggled out of
Hungary. She moved to Austria and in 1921 decided to emigrate to the
United States.
At this time the United States was experiencing a Red
Scare. As a result of her anti-war activities, Schwimmer was denounced
as a dangerous radical. Her application
for citizenship was denied when she refused to affirm that she would
bear arms in time of war. She appealed but the judgement was confirmed
by the Supreme Court in 1929.
Schwimmer
was allowed to remain in the United States and
helped
form the Campaign for World Government.
In
1935 she joined with Mary Ritter Beard
to create the World Centre for
Women's Archives. The main objective for
the centre was to preserve the records of women's contributions to
history. They chose the motto for the archive: "No documents,
no history." The venture was brought to an end in 1940 as a result
of her failure to raise enough funds to pay for the centre.
Rosika
Schwimmer died of bronchial pneumonia in New
York on 3rd August, 1948.
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