Paolina Schiff

Overview

Paolina Schiff born Mannheim, Baden, Germany July 27, 1841 (d. 1926). Italian professor historian of German literature; pacifist founder International Union for Peace and Arbitration Milan 1888; feminist leader founded first national women’s organization 1880; Socialist organized first women’s labor strike Milan.

Quotations

“[W]oman is the element of peace, she is an eternal protest against war because her common sense sees other outcomes, because it is not overwhelmed by a sensationalist enthusiasm that shows only the materiality of the thing and time, but the whole, the finality and the end.” (B. Bisnvh, “Militarism, Maternity and Peace,” p. 16; photo archivio biografico)