55 Facts About Rosika Schwimmer

Rosika Schwimmer was a Hungarian-born pacifist, feminist, world federalist and women's suffragist.

Rosika Schwimmer co-founded the first national women's labor umbrella organization in Hungary and the Hungarian Feminist Association.

Rosika Schwimmer assisted in organizing the Seventh Conference of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance, hosted in Budapest in 1913.

Rosika Schwimmer was one of the founders of the Woman's Peace Party and the organization which would become the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom.

From 1916 to 1918, Rosika Schwimmer lived in Europe working on various plans to end the war.

Rosika Schwimmer was one of the first world federalists, proposing a world government in 1937.

Rozsa Rosika Schwimmer was born in Budapest, Austria-Hungary, on 11 September 1877 to Bertha and Max Bernat Rosika Schwimmer.

Rosika Schwimmer's father was an agricultural merchant, involved in trading grain, horses and other products, who ran an experimental farm.

Rosika Schwimmer's maternal uncle, Leopold Katscher, was a noted writer and peace activist, who was a strong influence on Schwimmer.

Rosika Schwimmer attended primary school briefly in Budapest and after the family moved to Transylvania was educated in a convent school.

Rosika Schwimmer first worked as a governess, and then had several short-term jobs in Temesvar and Szabadka.

Rosika Schwimmer began working for the Notisztviselok Orszagos Egyesulete in 1897 and by 1901 had become president of the organization.

Rosika Schwimmer wrote to the Department of Commerce to acquire data on women's employment and sought archived copies of Nemzeti Noneveles, the most important journal of the era which analyzed the condition of women in education and labor.

When she lost her job at the National Association of Women Office Workers, Rosika Schwimmer began working as a journalist in late 1901.

Rosika Schwimmer wrote for Export Review and then was employed at Lloyd's News Agency, before becoming a regular contributor to international feminist magazines.

Rosika Schwimmer worked as a translator, creating Hungarian versions of such works as Women and Economics by Charlotte Perkins Gilman.

Rosika Schwimmer was asked to speak at the conference on labor conditions of industrial workers in Hungary.

Rosika Schwimmer gained national prominence that year for a dispute with law professor and MP, Karoly Kmety, who introduced a measure to implement stricter limits for women's admission to higher education.

In 1911, Rosika Schwimmer married a journalist, Pal Bedy and took his name but he either died in 1912, or they divorced in 1913.

Rosika Schwimmer arranged for university students to provide translation services and presented an update on the progress of suffrage in Hungary.

Rosika Schwimmer was an "uncompromising pacifist", a humanist, and an atheist.

Rosika Schwimmer smoked and drank wine, which was unusual at the time, and wore loose-fitting, corsetless dresses with her trademark pince-nez glasses.

Rosika Schwimmer worked as a correspondent of various European newspapers.

Rosika Schwimmer resigned from her post with the Suffrage Alliance, fearing her nationality would cause problems for the women's movement and her own ability to continue pressing for peace.

Rosika Schwimmer spoke in 22 different states, urging women to press for diplomatic mediation of the European conflict.

Rosika Schwimmer met with President Woodrow Wilson and Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan, but was unsuccessful in her attempts to organize a neutral conference to bring both sides of the conflict together.

Rosika Schwimmer took part in the formation of the Woman's Peace Party in 1915, becoming a secretary of the organization.

Rosika Schwimmer was asked to secure Catt as the chair of the conference but, unable to convince her, she approached social reformer, Jane Addams, who agreed to serve as conference chair.

Rosika Schwimmer strongly believed broader changes were needed and women's voices were crucial for ending violence against humanity.

Rosika Schwimmer felt that neither Catt nor Addams worked hard enough to secure the broad support needed for peace work from reform-minded women.

Rosika Schwimmer was accused of swindling Ford out of money, being a German spy, and a Bolshevik agent, though she was awarded $17,000 in a libel suit against the New York Commercial Advertiser for making those charges.

Rosika Schwimmer appointed Schwimmer as the ambassador to Switzerland, making her one of the world's first female ambassadors.

In February 1919, in Bern, Rosika Schwimmer organized a peace conference for the International Committee of Women for Permanent Peace; however, she was recalled from her post days before the communist coup d'etat in March.

In 1920, Rosika Schwimmer fled to Vienna where she lived as a refugee, financially supported by her friend Lola Maverick Lloyd, until she secured permission to emigrate to the United States in 1921.

Rosika Schwimmer renounced her Hungarian citizenship and arrived in the United States on 26 August 1921, first settling in Winnetka, Illinois, near Chicago with Lloyd.

Rosika Schwimmer had every intention of resuming her journalistic and lecturing career, but soon found she was blacklisted.

Rosika Schwimmer was accused of having prevented the United States from preparing sooner for the war, was called a spy, and her peace initiatives were twisted from being humanitarian missions into strategic plots to aid the Germans and their allies.

The Jewish community which had welcomed her before the war largely blamed Rosika Schwimmer for Ford's anti-Semitic campaign published between 1920 and 1922 in The Dearborn Independent, though Ford "never indicated that Rosika Schwimmer played any such role".

In 1924, Rosika Schwimmer applied for naturalization as a US citizen.

Rosika Schwimmer was questioned about her atheism, her views of nationalism, and her commitment to pacifism.

Rosika Schwimmer responded that faith was a personal choice and in line with the idea of separation of church and state.

Rosika Schwimmer stated that nationalism was a choice, that she had given up her Hungarian citizenship to pursue US naturalization, and she reiterated that she would not compromise her pacifism.

Rosika Schwimmer's case was called on 13 October 1927 with Judge George A Carpenter presiding.

Rosika Schwimmer's application was denied solely on the basis that Schwimmer refused to take up arms in defense of the country.

Rosika Schwimmer spent most of her remaining life fighting slander against her.

Rosika Schwimmer pointed out that as a woman over 50, even had she wanted to take up arms, she would not be allowed to do so.

Rosika Schwimmer proposed that the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom host a conference to address the issue of a lack of nationality.

Rosika Schwimmer received an honorary World Peace Prize in 1937, organized by Catt, Albert Einstein, Sylvia Pankhurst, Romain Rolland, Margaret Sanger, and others, which provided her with a prize of $7,000.

Also in 1937, Rosika Schwimmer formed the Campaign for World Government with Lloyd, the first World Federalist organization of the 20th century.

Rosika Schwimmer was one of the pioneers who backed creation of the International Court of Justice as a means to provide equal participation and protection for all people regardless of ethnicity, race, or gender.

Between 1938 and 1945, Rosika Schwimmer campaigned to aid European colleagues, such as Helene Stocker, escape from Nazi Germany.

In 1946, United States v Schwimmer was overturned in Girouard v United States, which determined that the Supreme Court had used an incorrect rule of law in Schwimmer, as well as in the cases United States v Macintosh, 283 US 605 and United States v Bland, 283 US 636.

Rosika Schwimmer died of pneumonia on 3 August 1948 in New York City.

Rosika Schwimmer was buried the following day at Ferncliff Cemetery.

Rosika Schwimmer is remembered as one of the primary spokespersons for Hungarian women in the era before World War I and as the co-founder of the Hungarian suffrage movement.