Virginie Griess-Traut (1814–1898) [1] was a French feminist, pacifist, and peace activist. [2]
Virginie Traut was born on 18 October 1814 in Colmar, France. [2]
On 7 April 1849, she married Jean Griess, a travelling salesman who shared her interest in phalansterian social organisation (inspired by Fourierist principles of self-sufficiency and cooperation. [3]). Both took the name Griess-Traut. [4] In the same, the couple left France for Algeria, where they remained for twenty-five years. Settling in Algiers, they formed a community with likeminded individuals, setting up a bakery, grocery store, and establishing a Froebelian kindergarten. [4]
At the outset of the Franco-Prussian War in 1870, Griess-Traut took to the press to call on her fellow women to join together in denouncing the war, initiating lifelong involvement with pacifist activism. [4] Over the following decades, Griess-Traut was active in numerous pacifist organisations, including the International League for Peace Freedom, French Society for Arbitration, Society of Peace, and the Association of Women for Peace. [2] She was vice-president of the Society for Peace through Education [2] and an advocate of the idea that 'European forces be made over into groups for public works development', transforming the standing armies of Europe into 'productive organisations'. [5]
In the mid-1870s, Griess-Traut and her husband returned to Europe, living first in Switzerland and then in France. [4] In 1877, Griess-Traut issued a Manifesto of Women Against War. [6] Jean Griess-Traut died in 1882. [4]
In 1889, at the French and International Congress of the Rights of Women in Paris, Griess-Traut spoke in support of co-education. She was also a vice-president of the Congress. [7]
Griess-Traut died in 1898, and is remembered as being 'a loyal supporter of progressive, republican, feminist, and peace causes during her long life'. [8]