Violet Tillard

Overview

Violet “Tilly” Tillard born Madras, British India December 29, 1874 (d. 1922). British nurse; Quaker; pacifist; suffragist. Imprisoned 60 days for removing women’s grille in Parliament, 1908. Opposed Great War. Ran No Conscription Fellowship, 1918; spent 61 days in Holloway Prison for refusal to reveal printers of No Conscription newsletter, 1918. Delivered postwar famine relief to Germany and Russia. Died of typhus, Ukraine.

Quotations

“One feels horrible to live in such good conditions when the people are literally starving at our doors—a boy of sixteen lies dead a few yards away. . . It isn’t so harrowing to see them lying dead. They suffer no more. It is the doomed shadows one sees around the streets and in the homes that are most horrible.” (Wikipedia citing Sybil Oldfield; photo menwhosaidno.org)

Bertha Thalheimer

Overview

Bertha Thalheimer born Affaltrach, Baden-Württemberg, Germany March 17, 1883 (d. 1959). German politician; opposed World War I. Co-founded antiwar Spartacus League, 1915. Attended Socialist women’s peace conference, Bern, 1915. Arrested for treason, sentenced two years, 1917. Postwar Communist leader, rejecting Russian control; survived Nazi concentration camp.

Quotations

“The fight for peace cannot be directly successful. It must be a struggle for the merger of the masses, for the renewal of the class struggle.” (Zimmerwald Conference, Lademacher, p. 141; photo wikicommons)

Guri Tambs-Lyche

Overview

Guri Tambs-Lyche born Trondheim, Norway April 20, 1917 (d. 2008). Norwegian radical activist for global solidarity; leader of national WILPF. Co-founded Norwegian Women’s Foundation dedicated to peace between east and west, 1948. Resisted German occupation; opposed Cold War and NATO.

Quotations

“I want a society that is free of war and oppression and will do everything I can to contribute to it.” (2006 interview, Unni Rustad, poltreder.no; photo poltreder.no)

Lucy Thoumaian

Overview

Lucy Thoumaian (née Lucy Rossier de Visme) born Amiens, France October 28, 1856 (d. 1940). Armenian peace activist; WILPF founding member. Founded Women’s Swiss Union for Peace, 1914.

Quotations

“War is man-made, it must be woman undone.” (1914 peace manifesto; photo Wikipedia)

Greta Thunberg

Overview

Greta Thunberg born Stockholm, Sweden January 3, 2003. Swedish environmental activist student quit school to protest climate inaction before national parliament , then at European Parliament Brussels, and London; inspired international school strike.

Quotations

“We are facing an existential threat. This is the biggest crisis humanity has ever faced. First we have to realise this and then as fast as possible do something to stop the emissions and try to save what we can save.” (UN Climate Summit, Dec. 4, 2018; photo stratestimes.com)

Kirsten Tackmann

Overview

Kirsten Tackmann born Schmalkalden, Thüringia, Germany September 24, 1960. German member of parliament 2005; agrarian expert; opposes NATO and militarization of Europe; led protest against “bombodrom” bombing practice on Kyritz-Ruppiner Heath 2011.

Quotations

“The protest processions, actions and Easter marches have attracted more and more citizens from all parts of the republic and have become rallies against the 'bombodrom,' against rearmament and against the wars in the world.” (Kollektiver Erfolg, July 18, 2009; photo Mārkische Allgemeine)

Emily Annette Taylor

Overview

Emily Annette Taylor (née Winslow) born Havre, France July 5, 1822 (d. 1904). Quaker abolitionist delegate to first World's Anti-Slavery Convention London 1840; active suffragist; educated her son Frederick, who became "Father of management efficiency."

Helen Taylor

Overview

Helen Taylor born Kent Terrace, London, England July 27, 1831 (d. 1907). Pioneering British suffragist, feminist, radical social reformer, and actress. Anti-imperialist and democratic socialist. Stepdaughter of John Stuart Mill. As the first woman candidate for Parliament, campaigned on platform of women’s rights, war prevention, and wage raises, 1885. Publicly opposed coercion in Ireland. Active leader of Women’s Peace & Arbitration Association.

Quotations

“The impotence of mere force. . . as compared with the slower but more thorough conquests of moral persuasion.” (1881 meeting, Women’s Peace & Arbitration Association; photo Spartacus-educational.com)

Helga Tempel

Overview

Helga Tempel Stolle born Hamburg, Germany January 10, 1932. Quaker pacifist; counselor on conscientious objection. Co-founded Action Group for Nonviolence, 1956; organized pray-in at NATO, 1958; kept 14-day vigil against nuclear weapons, 1958; held 30-day protest against French nuclear tests, 1960. Co-organized first Easter Marches, 1960, & San Francisco to Moscow March, 1961; co-founded World Peace Brigade Beirut, 1962; awarded Olaf Palne Peace Prize, 1988; counseled German soldiers to refuse Balkan War service, 1999; promoted nonviolent peace force.

Quotations

"I am ready to live without the protection of military armaments. I want our county to develop a political policy of peace without weapons." (Stuttgart, 1977 de.Wikipedia; photo http://bit.ly/VuQLYW)

Silvia Tennenbaum

Overview

Silvia Tennenbaum (née Pfeiffer-Belli) born Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany March 10, 1928. American author; Jewish critic of Israeli violence.

Quotations

"The time is long overdue for Jews to return to their role as the world's conscience, who come to the aid of the dispossessed, the wretched of the earth. Once again, we must join those who demand the end to unjust wars—in Iraq as well as Lebanon—and an unjust occupation in Gaza." ("Why Doesn’t Israel Work for Peace?" Newsday, Aug. 3, 2006)

Elisabeth von Thadden

Overview

Elisabeth von Thadden born Mohrungen, E. Prussia July 29, 1890 (d. 1944). Aristocrat schoolmistress. Illegally welcomed Jews and read Psalms; beheaded by Nazis, Berlin.

Quotations

Last words: "Make an end, O Lord, end our sufferings!" (1938 photo BBC)

Maj Britt Theorin

Overview

Maj Britt Theorin born Göteborg, Sweden December 22, 1932. Founder of World Women MPs for Peace, 1985; UN delegate, 1976-94; International Peace Bureau president, 1992-2000; member European Parliament, 1999-2004; Swedish Minister of Disarmament.

Quotations

"The Cold War is over, but nuclear weapons and the strategy to use them remain. Why?" (Teaching Tolerance; photo Transnational.org)

Marianne Thieme

Overview

Marianne Thieme born Ede, Netherlands March 6, 1972. Politician. Co-founded the Party for the Animals, seeking a society of sustainability and compassion, 2002; elected to Dutch House of Representatives, 2006. Opposed Dutch paramilitary program in Afghanistan, 2011.

Quotations

“We are a new political movement based on compassion, durability and respect to man, animals, nature and environment.” (Spectrum Magazine, Sept. 2007; photo Wikipedia)

Adrienne Thomas

Overview

Adrienne Thomas (née Hertha Strauch) born St. Avold, Alsace-Lorraine June 24, 1897 (d. 1980). German author. Published antiwar novel Katrin Becomes a Soldier, translated into 16 languages, 1930. Her works were banned by Nazi regime; went into exile, 1933. Escaped from internment at Gurs, 1940.

Quotations

“But what is victory worth if it means millions dead and millions crippled? And those who came back had to wade through rivers of comrades’ blood, will they be able to talk about ‘victory’ at all?” (Catherine Becomes a Soldier, p. 100; 1934 photo Wikipedia)

Anna Braithwaite Thomas

Overview

Anna Braithwaite Thomas born Banbury, Oxfordshire, England August 6, 1854 (d. 1947). Anglo-American Quaker peace leader; minister and author; recorded wartime relief Germany, Austria and Hungary in First World War.

Quotations

"Work was begun with the deliberate intention of obeying the commands of Christ in the treatment of one’s enemies, and it has met with a success that is out of all proportion to the efforts put forth. If nothing had resulted but our own hearts being kept soft and tender during those terrible years and comforted in sore trial by the continual sense of the divine guidance, many of us would have felt amply repaid; but in addition we had the joy of constantly seeing wrongs righted, tears wiped away, desolate homes made bright and sad-eyed little children won back to smiles and gladness. Here was indeed a rich reward. But even this was not all. After the war, came the discovery that the work of the Committee, as it became known in Germany had kept alive a belief in the power of good will and the possibility of a better world." (St. Stephen's House: Friends' Emergency Work in England 1914 to 1920, 1920)

Emily Thornberry

Overview

Emily Thornberry born Guildford, Surrey, England July 27, 1960. Labour Party politician, member of Parliament 2005; shadow Foreign Secretary 2016; human rights lawyer; leader Stop the War Coalition against Iraq War 2003; longtime supporter of CND questioned Trident missile; condemned war on Libya “reckless”; moved ending support of Yemen War 2016; condemned US missile strike on Syria 2017.

Quotations

"For Donald Trump to be taking unilateral action without consulting anyone else, I am concerned is simply going to escalate an already dreadful and tragic war. . . What we do not need is any more bombing, what we do not need is any more war.” (Telegraph, April 7, 2017 photo newstatesman.com)

Inga Thorsson

Overview

Inga Thorsson (née Sjöbäck), born Malmö, Sweden July 3, 1915 (d. 1994). Disarmament expert; Nobel prize nominee; ambassador to UN 1966, 1970-82, to Israel 1964; headed Swedish delegation to UN Disarmament Conferences 1974-82; member of parliament; founded first Swedish peace corps (SCI) camp Tostarp 1937; proposed first world environment conference; member WILPF.

Quotations

"We have now reached the stage where disarmament alone, although an absolute necessity, is not enough. The stockpiles of arms are in themselves a mortal threat to mankind but there are also other threats to our existence. Disarmament for peace is not sufficient: it must be supported by development for peace." (Better World quotes; photo dornsife.usc.edu)

Isabella Tod

Overview

Isabella Tod born Edinburgh, Scotland May 18, 1836 (d. 1896). Northern Irish feminist and internationalist who opposed imperialism and use of force.

Quotations

"We have to fight for and protect the interests of the weak, by teaching the strong that they have no rights by virtue of their strength." (Journal, June 1, 1884; photo scoilnet.ie)

Flora Tristan

Overview

Flora Tristan born Paris, France April 7, 1803 (d. 1844). French feminist pioneer and utopian Socialist who believed women's leadership would bring peace.

Quotations

"[I propose a] law of love and union destined to end all conflict between men." (Méphis, in Susan K. Grogan, French Socialism and Sexual Difference, p. 175, 1992; photo Wikipedia from colegiofloratristan.blogspot.com)