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95-552: Theodor Herzl (2 May 1860 – 3 July 1904) was an Austro-Hungarian Jewish journalist, lawyer, writer, playwright and political activist who was the father of modern political Zionism . Herzl formed the Zionist Organization and promoted Jewish immigration to Palestine in an effort to form a Jewish state. Due to his Zionist work, he is known in Hebrew as Chozeh HaMedinah ( חוֹזֵה הַמְדִינָה ), lit.   ' Visionary of

190-485: A doge . His daughter Paulina suffered from mental illness and drug addiction. She died in 1930 at the age of 40 of a heroin overdose. His only son Hans was given a secular upbringing and the Herzls refused to allow him to be circumcised. On Herzl's early death, after reportedly being pressured to do so by his Zionist caretakers, Hans, then a ward , submitted to circumcision on 29 May 1905; he subsequently converted, resenting

285-704: A Jewish homeland in Palestine. A Heimstatte —a homeland for the Jewish people in Palestine secured by public law. On 26 January 1904, Herzl was received in audience by Pope Pius X at the Holy See in Rome , in the hope of convincing the Vatican at supporting the Zionist movement. Pius X was respectful towards Herzl, but resolutely refused to support Zionism in any way. Herzl did not live to see

380-460: A Jewish renaissance and the resettlement of Palestine." In this idea, Birnbaum was most influenced by Leon Pinsker. Known in Hebrew as Tzionut Ma'asit ( Hebrew : ציונות מעשית ), Practical Zionism was led by Moshe Leib Lilienblum and Leon Pinsker and molded by the Hovevei Zion organization. This approach opined that firstly there is a need in practical terms to implement Jewish immigration to

475-638: A New York-born literary agent, with whom he had one daughter, Danae . In the 1990s, Elon began to spend much of his time in Italy . In 2004 he moved there permanently, citing disillusionment with developments in Israel since 1967. Elon died of leukemia on May 25, 2009 in Borgo Buggiano in Tuscany , Italy, aged 82. In 2005, his daughter Danae produced a biographical film about him, entitled Another Road Home . Beginning in

570-553: A Zionist organization, the association champions activities that further enhance Israel as a pluralistic, just and democratic Jewish state." In Israel, Reform Zionism is associated with the Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism . Amos Elon Heinrich Sternbach (later Amos Elon) was born in Vienna . He immigrated to Mandate Palestine as a child in 1933. He studied law and history in Israel and England. He married Beth Drexler,

665-404: A combination of the preceding two approaches. Led by Nachman Syrkin , Ber Borochov , Haim Arlosoroff , and Berl Katznelson . As socialists , Labor or socialist Zionists desired to establish an agriculturist society not on the basis of a bourgeois capitalists society, but rather on the basis of equality. Although there were socialist Zionists in the nineteenth century (such as Moses Hess ), as

760-414: A community of primarily Yiddish -speaking recent Eastern European Jewish immigrants, Herzl addressed a mass rally of thousands on 12 July 1896 and was received with acclaim. They granted Herzl the mandate of leadership for Zionism. Within six months this mandate had been expanded throughout Zionist Jewry: the Zionist movement grew rapidly. On 10 March 1896, Herzl was visited by Reverend William Hechler ,

855-509: A despicable type of Jew and has often been described as antisemitic. In Der Judenstaat he writes: "The Jewish question persists wherever Jews live in appreciable numbers. Wherever it does not exist, it is brought in together with Jewish immigrants. We are naturally drawn into those places where we are not persecuted, and our appearance there gives rise to persecution. This is the case, and will inevitably be so, everywhere, even in highly civilised countries—see, for instance, France—so long as

950-476: A flag of the Jewish state. Herzl Day ( Hebrew : יום הרצל ) is an Israeli national holiday celebrated annually on the tenth of the Hebrew month of Iyar , to commemorate the life and vision of Zionist leader Theodor Herzl. Herzl's grandfathers, both of whom he knew, were more closely related to traditional Judaism than were his parents. In Zimony (Zemlin), his grandfather Simon Loeb Herzl "had his hands on" one of

1045-617: A house next to the Dohány Street Synagogue (formerly known as Tabakgasse Synagogue) located in Belváros , the inner city of the historical old town of Pest, in the eastern section of Budapest. In his youth, Herzl was aspired to follow the footsteps of Ferdinand de Lesseps , builder of the Suez Canal , but did not succeed in the sciences and instead developed a growing enthusiasm for poetry and humanities. This passion later developed into

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1140-554: A journalist for a Viennese newspaper and a correspondent for Neue Freie Presse , in Paris, occasionally making special trips to London and Istanbul . He later became literary editor of Neue Freie Presse , and wrote several comedies and dramas for the Viennese stage. His early work did not focus on Jewish life. It was of the feuilleton order, descriptive rather than political. As the Paris correspondent for Neue Freie Presse , Herzl followed

1235-486: A lack of self-determination , this territory must be re-established as a Jewish state . Historically, the establishment of a Jewish state has been understood in the Zionist mainstream as establishing and maintaining a Jewish majority. Zionism was produced by various philosophers representing different approaches concerning the objective and path that Zionism should follow. A "Zionist consensus" commonly refers to an ideological umbrella typically attributed to two main factors:

1330-463: A long visit in the future, in fact as soon as passport & permit regulations permit. But the dreadful news of the last two days have done nothing to make this easier." He never did return to Palestine. Types of Zionism The common definition of Zionism was principally the endorsement of the Jewish people to establish a Jewish national home in Palestine , secondarily the claim that due to

1425-784: A minister of state or a prince. Then the Jews will believe in me and follow me. The most suitable personage would be the German Kaiser." Hechler arranged an extended audience with Frederick I, Grand Duke of Baden , in April 1896. The Grand Duke was the uncle of the German Emperor Wilhelm ;II . Through the efforts of Hechler and the Grand Duke, Herzl publicly met Wilhelm II in 1898 . The meeting significantly advanced Herzl's and Zionism's legitimacy in Jewish and world opinion. In May 1896,

1520-561: A modern-day version of Liberal Zionism (supporting his vision of "Knowledge-Nation Israel"), rooted in the original ideology of Herzl and Ahad Ha'am , that stands in contrast to both the romantic nationalism of the right and the Netzah Yisrael of the ultra-Orthodox. It is marked by a concern for democratic values and human rights, freedom to criticize government policies without accusations of disloyalty, and rejection of excessive religious influence in public life. "Liberal Zionism celebrates

1615-599: A morally better person (the Bildung theory tended to equate beauty with goodness). Herzl believed that through Bildung Hungarian Jews such as himself could shake off their "shameful Jewish characteristics" caused by long centuries of impoverishment and oppression, and become civilized Central Europeans, a true Kulturvolk along the German lines. In 1878, after Pauline's death, the Herzl family moved to Vienna , Austria-Hungary, and lived in

1710-550: A movement, labor Zionism became a mass movement in the early twentieth. Its main organisational form was the Poale Zion ("Workers of Zion") movement, which was affiliated to the Socialist International and often a formed a part of the mainstream socialist parties in the different countries in which it organised. Socialist Zionism had a Marxist current, led by Borochov. After 1917 (the year of Borochov's death as well as

1805-749: A second formal, public audience with the emperor at the latter's tent camp on Street of the Prophets in Jerusalem on 2 November 1898. The English Zionist Federation, the local branch of the World Zionist Organization, was founded in 1899, after Herzl had established in Austria in 1897. In 1902–03, Herzl was invited to give evidence before the British Royal Commission on Alien Immigration. His appearance brought him into close contact with members of

1900-550: A shared tragic history (such as the Holocaust ), and the common threat posed by Israel's neighboring enemies. Political Zionism was led by Theodor Herzl and Max Nordau . This Zionist Organization approach espoused at the First Zionist Congress aimed at establishing for the Jewish people a publicly and legally assured home in Palestine which, among other items, included initial steps to obtain governmental grants from

1995-401: A street in the Jewish quarter of Pest (now eastern part of Budapest ), Kingdom of Hungary (now Hungary), to a Neolog Jewish family. He was the second child of Jeanette and Jakob Herzl, who were German-speaking, assimilated Jews. Herzl stated he was of both Ashkenazi and Sephardic lineage, predominantly through his paternal line and to a lesser extent through the maternal line, but there

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2090-443: A strong attachment to his mother, who was unable to get along with his wife. These difficulties were increased by the political activities of his later years, in which his wife took little interest. Julie died in 1907, 3 years after Herzl, aged 39. Herzl imagined himself as a great statesman creating a dynasty for his family in Palestine once a Jewish state was established, where his father would be its foundational senator, and his son

2185-535: A successful career in journalism and a less-celebrated pursuit of playwrighting. According to Amos Elon , as a young man, Herzl was an ardent Germanophile who saw the Germans as the best Kulturvolk (cultured people) in Central Europe and embraced the German ideal of Bildung , whereby reading great works of literature by Goethe and Shakespeare could allow one to appreciate the beautiful things in life and thus become

2280-449: A suicide note explaining his reasons. "A Jew remains a Jew, no matter how eagerly he may submit himself to the disciplines of his new religion, how humbly he may place the redeeming cross upon his shoulders for the sake of his former coreligionists, to save them from eternal damnation: a Jew remains a Jew ... I can't go on living. I have lost all trust in God. All my life I've tried to strive for

2375-528: A symbol of Herzl's returning. Operation Agatha of 29 June 1946, precluded that possibility: local military and police fanned out throughout the Mandate and arrested Jewish activists. About 2,700 individuals were arrested. On 2 July, Norman wrote to Mrs.Stybovitz-Kahn in Haifa. Her father, Jacob Kahn, had been a good friend of Herzl and a well-known Dutch banker before the war. Norman wrote, "I intend to go to Palestine on

2470-497: Is also categorized as supporters of Greater Israel . Led by Yitzchak Yaacov Reines , founder of Mizrachi (religious Zionism) , and by Abraham Isaac Kook . Religious Zionism maintained that Jewish nationality and the establishment of the State of Israel is a religious duty derived from the Torah . As opposed to some parts of the Jewish non-secular community that claimed that the redemption of

2565-568: Is also categorized as supporters of Greater Israel . Reform Zionism, also known as Progressive Zionism, is the ideology of the Zionist arm of the Reform or Progressive branch of Judaism . The Association of Reform Zionists of America is the American Reform movement's Zionist organization. Their mission "endeavors to make Israel fundamental to the sacred lives and Jewish identity of Reform Jews. As

2660-526: Is an assimilated Jewish lawyer who tries unsuccessfully to break through the social ghetto enforced on Western Jews. According to Henry Wickham Steed , Herzl was initially "fanatically devoted to the propagation of Jewish-German 'Liberal' assimilationist doctrine." However, Herzl came to reject his early ideas regarding Jewish emancipation and assimilation and to believe that the Jews must remove themselves from Europe. Herzl grew to believe that antisemitism could not be defeated or cured, only avoided, and that

2755-557: Is best to scrap it." In 2006 the remains of Paulina and Hans were moved from Bordeaux , France, and reburied not far from their father on Mt. Herzl. Paulina and Hans had little contact with their young sister, "Trude" (Margarethe, 1893–1943). She married Richard Neumann, a man 17 years her elder. Neumann lost his fortune in the Great Depression . Burdened by the steep costs of hospitalizing Trude, who suffered from severe bouts of depressive illness that required repeated hospitalization,

2850-481: Is no evidence for the claim of Sephardic origins. His father's family had migrated from Zimony (today Zemun , Serbia ), to Bohemia in 1739, where they were required to Germanize their family name Loebl (from Hebrew lev , 'heart') to Herzl (diminutive of Ger. Herz ; 'little heart'). Herzl's father Jakob (1836–1902) was a highly successful businessman. He had a sister, Pauline, who was a year older; she died of typhus on 7 February 1878. Theodor lived with his family in

2945-599: The Anglican minister to the British Embassy in Vienna. Hechler had read Herzl's Der Judenstaat , and the meeting became central to the eventual legitimization of Herzl and Zionism. Herzl later wrote in his diary, "Next we came to the heart of the business. I said to him: (Theodor Herzl to Rev. William Hechler) I must put myself into direct and publicly known relations with a responsible or non responsible ruler – that is, with

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3040-776: The British Army rising to the rank of Captain in the Royal Artillery . In late 1945 and early 1946 he took the opportunity to visit the British Mandate of Palestine "to see what my grandfather had started." He wrote in his diary extensively about his trip. What most impressed him was the "look of freedom" on the faces of the children, which were not like the sallow look of those from the concentration camps of Europe. Norman planned to return to Palestine following his military discharge. The Zionist Executive had worked for years through L. Lauterbach to get Norman to come to Palestine as

3135-684: The Dreyfus affair , a political scandal that divided the Third French Republic from 1894 until its resolution in 1906. It was a notorious antisemitic incident in France in which a Jewish French army captain was falsely convicted of spying for Germany . Herzl was witness to mass rallies in Paris following the Dreyfus trial. There has been some controversy surrounding the impact that this event had on Herzl and his conversion to Zionism. Herzl himself stated that

3230-666: The First Zionist Congress in Basel , Switzerland, and was elected president of the Zionist Organization. He began a series of diplomatic initiatives to build support for a Jewish state, appealing unsuccessfully to German emperor Wilhelm II and Ottoman sultan Abdul Hamid II . At the Sixth Zionist Congress in 1903, Herzl presented the Uganda Scheme , endorsed by Colonial Secretary Joseph Chamberlain on behalf of

3325-614: The First Zionist Congress in Basel , Switzerland. He was elected president of the Congress (a position he held until his death in 1904), and in 1898 he began a series of diplomatic initiatives to build support for a Jewish country. He was received by Wilhelm II on several occasions, one of them in Jerusalem , and attended the Hague Peace Conference , enjoying a warm reception from many statesmen there. His work on Autoemancipation

3420-673: The Neue Freie Presse . Herzl presented his proposal to the Grand Vizier: the Jews would pay the Turkish foreign debt and help Turkey regain its financial footing in return for Palestine as a Jewish homeland. Prior to leaving Istanbul, 29 June 1896, Herzl was granted a symbolic medal of honor. The medal, the "Commander's Cross of the Order of the Medjidie ," was a public relations affirmation for Herzl and

3515-787: The Russian Revolution and the Balfour Declaration ), Poale Zion split between a Left (that supported Bolshevism and then the Soviet Union ) and a social democratic Right (that became dominant in Palestine). In Ottoman Palestine, Poale Zion founded the Hashomer guard organization that guarded settlements of the Yishuv , and took up the ideology of "conquest of labor" ( Kibbush Ha'avoda ) and " Hebrew labor " ( Avoda Ivrit ). It also gave birth to

3610-512: The " Uganda Project " and Herzl presented it to the Sixth Zionist Congress (Basel, August 1903), where a majority (295:178, 98 abstentions) agreed to investigating this offer. The proposal faced strong opposition particularly from the Russian delegation who stormed out of the meeting. In 1905 the 7th Zionist Congress, after investigations, decided to decline the British offer and firmly committed itself to

3705-584: The " settlers ", and are also categorized as supporters of Greater Israel . Led by Ahad Ha'am (Asher Zvi Hirsch Ginsberg) . Cultural Zionism opined that the fulfillment of the national revival of the Jewish People should be achieved by creating a cultural center in the Land of Israel and an educative center to the Jewish Diaspora , which together will be a bulwark against the danger of assimilation that threatens

3800-556: The 'Problem of the Jews .' Beginning in late 1895, Herzl wrote Der Judenstaat ( The State of the Jews ), which was published February 1896 to immediate acclaim and controversy. The book argued that the Jewish people should leave Europe for Palestine, their historic homeland. The Jews possessed a nationality; all they were missing was a nation and a state of their own. Only through a Jewish state could they avoid antisemitism, express their culture freely and practice their religion without hindrance. Herzl's ideas spread rapidly throughout

3895-432: The 1950s, Elon served as a correspondent on European and American affairs for the newspaper Haaretz . He took a leave of absence from Haaretz in 1971 and resumed in 1978. Elon retired from Haaretz in 2001. Elon was an early advocate for the creation of a Palestinian state and withdrawal from the territories occupied by Israel in 1967. Elon also spoke out against Armenian genocide denial and Yad Vashem 's boycott of

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3990-535: The 1982 International Conference on Holocaust and Genocide over its inclusion of the Armenian genocide . Elon was the author of nine books. He rose to international fame in the early 1970s after publishing The Israelis: Founders and Sons , described as "an affectionate but unsparing portrait of the early Zionists ". A frequent contributor to the New York Review of Books and The New York Times Magazine , he

4085-581: The 9th district, Alsergrund . At the University of Vienna, Herzl studied law. As a young law student, Herzl became a member of the German nationalist Burschenschaft (fraternity) Albia, which had the motto Ehre, Freiheit, Vaterland ("Honor, Freedom, Fatherland"). He later resigned in protest at the organisation's antisemitism . After a brief legal career in the University of Vienna and Salzburg , he devoted himself to journalism and literature , working as

4180-614: The British administration in an effort to end the British Mandate of Palestine and pave the way for Jewish political independence. Following the State of Israel's establishment leading figures of this stream argued that the creation of the state of Israel was never the goal of Zionism but rather a tool to be used in realizing the goal of Zionism, which they called Malkhut Yisrael (the Kingdom of Israel). Revolutionary Zionists are often mistakenly included among Revisionist Zionists but differ ideologically in several areas. While Revisionists were for

4275-745: The British government, particularly with Colonial Secretary Joseph Chamberlain through whom he negotiated with the Egyptian government for a charter for the settlement of the Jews in Al 'Arish in the Sinai Peninsula , adjoining southern Palestine. The project was blocked as impractical by Lord Cromer , the Consul General in Egypt. In 1902 he wrote a letter to Cecil Rhodes , attempting to get his support for Jewish state. Then in 1903, Herzl attempted to obtain support for

4370-645: The British government. The proposal, which sought to create a temporary refuge for the Jews in British East Africa following the Kishinev pogrom , was met with strong opposition and ultimately rejected. Herzl died of a heart ailment in 1904 at the age of 44, and was buried in Vienna. In 1949, his remains were taken to Israel and reinterred on Mount Herzl . Theodor Herzl was born in the Dohány utca ( Tabakgasse in German),

4465-637: The Chief Rabbis of France and Vienna, the German financier Maurice de Hirsch who had created the Jewish Colonization Association in 1891 to encourage mass emigration of Russian Jews to North and South America, and would later be repurposed as the Palestine Jewish Colonization Association in 1924, and especially French philanthropist and art collector Edmond James de Rothschild who was already independently funding

4560-418: The Dreyfus case turned him into a Zionist and that he was particularly affected by chants of "Death to the Jews!" from the crowds. This had been the widely held belief for some time. However, some modern scholars now believe that – due to little mention of the Dreyfus affair in Herzl's earlier accounts and a seemingly contrary reference he made in them to shouts of "Death to the traitor!" – he may have exaggerated

4655-409: The English translation of Der Judenstaat appeared in London as The Jewish State . Herzl had earlier confessed to his friend Max Bodenheimer that he "wrote what I had to say without knowing my predecessors, and it can be assumed that I would not have written it [ Der Judenstaat ] had I been familiar with the literature." In Istanbul, Ottoman Empire, 15 June 1896, Herzl saw an opportunity. With

4750-428: The First Zionist Congress in 1897 until after the First World War. General Zionists identified with the liberal European middle class to which many Zionist leaders such as Herzl and Chaim Weizmann aspired. Liberal Zionism, although not associated with any single party in modern Israel, remains a strong trend in Israeli politics advocating free market principles, democracy and adherence to human rights. Their political arm

4845-473: The Jewish homeland from Pope Pius X , an idea broached at 6th Zionist Congress . Palestine could offer a safe refuge for those fleeing persecution in Russia. Cardinal Rafael Merry del Val ordained that the Church's policy was explained non possumus on such matters, decreeing that as long as the Jews denied the divinity of Christ, the Catholics could not make a declaration in their favour. In 1903, following Kishinev pogrom , Herzl visited St. Petersburg and

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4940-574: The Jewish question is not solved on the political level." The book concludes: Therefore I believe that a wondrous generation of Jews will spring into existence. The Maccabeans will rise again. Let me repeat once more my opening words: The Jews who wish for a State will have it. We shall live at last as free men on our own soil, and die peacefully in our own homes. The world will be freed by our liberty, enriched by our wealth, magnified by our greatness. And whatever we attempt there to accomplish for our own welfare, will react powerfully and beneficially for

5035-432: The Jewish world and attracted international attention. Supporters of existing Zionist movements, such as the Hovevei Zion , immediately allied themselves with him, but he also encountered bitter opposition from members of the Orthodox community and those seeking to integrate in non-Jewish society. His notorious article Mauschel , published just after the first Zionist Congress, depicted Jews who oppose Zionism as constituting

5130-408: The Jewish world of the seriousness of the negotiations. On 1 March 1899 Yousef Al-Khalidi , the mayor of Jerusalem, sent a letter to Zadok Kahn , the chief rabbi of France, with the intention to reach Herzl and ask Zionists to leave the area of Palestine in peace. Al-Khalidi was very familiar with Zionist thought, and the anti-Semitic environment in Europe out of which it emerged. He also perceived

5225-408: The Land of Israel will occur only after the coming of the messiah , who will fulfill this aspiration, they maintained that human acts of redeeming the Land will bring about the messiah, as their slogan states: "The land of Israel for the people of Israel according to the Torah of Israel" ( Hebrew : ארץ ישראל לעם ישראל לפי תורת ישראל ). Today they are commonly referred as the "Religious Nationalists" or

5320-512: The Land of Israel, Aliyah , and settlement of the land, as soon as possible, even if a charter over the Land is not obtained. The Tzabarim had no patience with all this ideological nonsense. Even the word "Zionism" became a synonym for nonsense – "don't talk Zionism!" meant "stop uttering highfaluting phrases". Uri Avnery , born in 1923, describing the politics of activists in pre-Holocaust Palestine . Led by Chaim Weizmann , Leo Motzkin and Nahum Sokolow , an approach that advocated

5415-415: The Neumanns' financial life was precarious. The Nazis sent Trude and Richard to the Theresienstadt concentration camp where they died. Her body was burned . Her mother, who died in 1907, was cremated, and her ashes were lost by accident. At the request of his father Richard Neumann, Trude's son (Herzl's only grandchild), Stephan Theodor Neumann (1918–1946), was sent for his safety to England in 1935 to

5510-441: The Ottoman Empire and the non-Jewish population of Palestine would benefit from Jewish immigration. As to al-Khalidi concerns about the non-Jewish majority population of Palestine, Herzl replied rhetorically: "who would think of sending them away?" and concluded ambiguously that "If he (the Ottoman Sultan) will not accept it, we will search and, believe me, we will find elsewhere what we need." Rashid Khalidi notes that this sentiment

5605-438: The State ' . He is specifically mentioned in the Israeli Declaration of Independence and is officially referred to as "the spiritual father of the Jewish State". Herzl was born in Pest , Kingdom of Hungary , to a prosperous Neolog Jewish family. After a brief legal career in Vienna , he became the Paris correspondent for the Viennese newspaper Neue Freie Presse . Confronted with antisemitic events in Vienna, he reached

5700-481: The Viennese Zionists and the Zionist Executive in Israel based there . The Neumanns deeply feared for the safety of their only child as violent Austrian antisemitism expanded. In England he read extensively about his grandfather. Zionism had not been a significant part of his background in Austria, but Stephan became an ardent Zionist, was the only descendant of Theodor Herzl to have become one. Anglicizing his name to Stephen Norman, during World War II, Norman enlisted in

5795-651: The Zionist movement could work to improve Abdul Hamid II's reputation and shore up the empire's finances. Bernard Lazare harshly criticized this position, arguing that Herzl and other delegates of the Zionist Congress "have sent their blessing to the worst of murderers." Returning from Istanbul, Herzl traveled to London to report back to the Maccabeans , a proto-Zionist group of established English Jews led by Colonel Albert Goldsmid . In November 1895 they received him with curiosity, indifference and coldness. Israel Zangwill bitterly opposed Herzl, but after Istanbul, Goldsmid agreed to support Herzl. In London's East End ,

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5890-460: The affair years later when it had become an international cause célèbre . Rather, it was the rise to power of the antisemitic demagogue Karl Lueger in Vienna in 1895 that seems to have had a greater effect on Herzl, before the pro-Dreyfus campaign had fully emerged. It was at this time that Herzl wrote his play "The New Ghetto," which shows the ambivalence and lack of real security and equality of emancipated, well-to-do Jews in Vienna. The protagonist

5985-414: The assistance of Count Philip Michael von Nevlinski, a Polish émigré with political contacts in the Ottoman Court, Herzl attempted to meet Sultan Abdulhamid II in order to present his solution of a Jewish State to the Sultan directly. He failed to obtain an audience but did succeed in visiting a number of highly placed individuals, including the Grand Vizier, who received him as a journalist representing

6080-434: The bankers (Finanzjuden) and detested them. Herzl was defiant of their social authority. He also shared Pinsker's pessimistic opinion that the Jews had no future in Europe; that they were too antisemitic to tolerate because each country in Europe had tried antisemitic assimilation. In Berlin they said Juden raus in a well worn phrase. Herzl therefore advocated a mass exodus from Europe to the Judenstaat . Pinsker's manifesto

6175-412: The behest of Zionist leaders, read the kaddish . First buried at the Viennese cemetery in the district of Döbling , his remains were brought to Israel in 1949 and buried on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem , which was named after him. The coffin was draped in a blue and white pall decorated with a Star of David circumscribing a Lion of Judah and seven gold stars recalling Herzl's original proposal for

6270-422: The conclusion that anti-Jewish sentiment would make Jewish assimilation impossible, and that the only solution for Jews was the establishment of a Jewish state . In 1896, Herzl published the pamphlet Der Judenstaat , in which he elaborated his visions of a Jewish homeland. His ideas attracted international attention and rapidly established Herzl as a major figure in the Jewish world. In 1897, Herzl convened

6365-413: The craving for literary success and a desire to act as a public figure. Around this time, Herzl started writing pamphlets about A Jewish State . Herzl claimed that these pamphlets resulted in the establishment of the Zionist Movement, and they did play a large role in the movement's rise and success. His testimony before the British Royal Commission reflected his fundamental, romantic liberal view on life as

6460-477: The danger Zionism could expose Jews to throughout the domains of the Ottoman Empire. According to scholars Rashid Khalidi , Alexander Scholch and Dominique Perrin , Al-Khalidi was prescient in predicting that, regardless of Jewish historic rights, given the geopolitical context, Zionism could stir an awakening of Arab nationalism uniting Christians and Muslims. Kahn showed the letter to Theodor Herzl and on 19 March 1899 Herzl replied to al-Khalidi arguing that both

6555-457: The established powers that controlled the area. Nathan Birnbaum , a Jew from Vienna, was the original father of Political Zionism, yet ever since he defected away from his own movement Theodor Herzl has become known as the face of modern Zionism. In 1890, Birnbaum coined the term "Zionism" and the phrase "Political Zionism" two years later. Birnbaum published a periodical titled Selbstemanzination ( Self Emancipation ) which espoused "the idea of

6650-399: The establishing of a communist society in the Land of Israel. Revisionist Zionism opposed any restraint in relation to Arab violence and supported firm military action against the Arabs that had attacked the Jewish Community in Mandatory Palestine . Due to that position, a faction of the Revisionist leadership split from that movement in order to establish the underground Irgun . This stream

6745-413: The establishment of Jewish colonies in Ottoman Palestine, and to whom Herzl wrote a 65-page long pitch in 1895. He fared best with Israel Zangwill , and Max Nordau . They were both well-known writers or 'men of letters'—imagination that engenders understanding. The correspondence to Hirsch, who had died in 1896, led nowhere. Baron Albert Rothschild had little to do with the Jews. Herzl was disliked by

6840-490: The existence of the Jewish People. Led by Avraham Stern , Israel Eldad and Uri Zvi Greenberg . Revolutionary Zionism viewed Zionism as a revolutionary struggle to ingather the Jewish exiles from the Diaspora, revive the Hebrew language as a spoken vernacular and reestablish a Jewish kingdom in the Land of Israel. As members of Lehi during the 1940s, many adherents of Revolutionary Zionism engaged in guerilla warfare against

6935-529: The first copies of Judah Alkalai 's 1857 work prescribing the "return of the Jews to the Holy Land and renewed glory of Jerusalem." Contemporary scholars conclude that Herzl's own implementation of modern Zionism was undoubtedly influenced by that relationship. Herzl's grandparents' graves in Semlin can still be visited. Alkalai himself witnessed the rebirth of Serbia from Ottoman rule in the early and mid-19th century and

7030-457: The first time in October 1898. He deliberately coordinated his visit with that of Wilhelm II to secure what he thought had been prearranged with the aid of Rev. William Hechler , namely public world power recognition of himself and Zionism. Herzl and Wilhelm II first met publicly on 29 October, at Mikveh Israel , near present-day Holon , Israel. It was a brief but historic meeting. He had

7125-545: The good of humanity. Herzl began to energetically promote his ideas, continually attracting supporters, Jewish and non-Jewish. According to Norman Rose, Herzl "mapped out for himself the role of martyr ... as the Parnell of the Jews." Herzl saw an opportunity in the mid-1890s anti-Armenian Hamidian massacres which severely tarnished the public image of the sultan in Europe. He proposed that in exchange for Jewish settlement in Palestine,

7220-492: The influence it had on him in order to create further support for his goals. Jacques Kornberg claims that the Dreyfus influence was a myth that Herzl did not feel necessary to deflate and that he also believed that Dreyfus was guilty. Another modern claim is that, while upset by antisemitism evident in French society, Herzl, like most contemporary observers, initially believed Dreyfus was guilty and only claimed to have been inspired by

7315-475: The most authentic traits of the Jewish tradition: the willingness for incisive debate; the contrarian spirit of davka ; the refusal to bow to authoritarianism." Liberal Zionists see that "Jewish history shows that Jews need and are entitled to a nation-state of their own. But they also think that this state must be a liberal democracy , which means that there must be strict equality before the law independent of religion, ethnicity or gender." Revisionist Zionism

7410-503: The most part secular nationalists who hoped to achieve a Jewish state that would exist as a commonwealth within the British Empire, Revolutionary Zionists advocated a form of national-messianism that aspired towards a vast Jewish kingdom with a rebuilt Temple in Jerusalem . Revolutionary Zionism generally espoused anti-imperialist political views and included both Right-wing and Left-wing nationalists among its adherents. This stream

7505-414: The only way to avoid it was the establishment of a Jewish state. In June 1895, he wrote in his diary: "In Paris, as I have said, I achieved a freer attitude toward anti-semitism ... Above all, I recognized the emptiness and futility of trying to 'combat' anti-semitism." Herzl's editors at Neue Freie Presse refused any publication of his Zionist political activities. A mental clash gripped Herzl, between

7600-503: The poorest-class funeral without speeches or flowers and he added, "I wish to be buried in the vault beside my father, and to lie there till the Jewish people shall take my remains to Israel." Nevertheless, some six thousand followed Herzl's hearse, and the funeral was long and chaotic. Despite Herzl's request that no speeches be made, a brief eulogy was delivered by David Wolffsohn . Hans Herzl, then thirteen, who by his father's choice had not been circumcised at birth, and only did so later at

7695-534: The process of expropriation and the removal of the poor must be carried out discreetly and circumspectly.' On 17 May 1901, Herzl met with Sultan Abdul Hamid II , who turned down Herzl's offer to consolidate the Ottoman debt in exchange for a charter allowing the Zionists access to Palestine . In 1897, at considerable personal expense, he founded the Zionist newspaper Die Welt in Vienna, Austria-Hungary, and planned

7790-561: The rejection of the Uganda plan. At 5 p.m. 3 July 1904, in Edlach, a village inside Reichenau an der Rax , Lower Austria , Theodor Herzl, having been diagnosed with a heart issue earlier in the year, died of cardiac sclerosis . A day before his death, he told the Reverend William H. Hechler : "Greet Palestine for me. I gave my heart's blood for my people." His will stipulated that he should have

7885-609: The success of the then-new Yesh Atid party (representing secular, middle-class interests) embodied the success of "the new General Zionists." Dror Zeigerman writes that the traditional positions of the General Zionists—"liberal positions based on social justice, on law and order, on pluralism in matters of State and Religion, and on moderation and flexibility in the domain of foreign policy and security"—are still favored by important circles and currents within certain active political parties. Philosopher Carlo Strenger describes

7980-433: The truth, and must admit today at the end of the road that there is nothing but disappointment. Tonight I have said Kaddish for my parents—and for myself, the last descendant of the family. There is nobody who will say Kaddish for me, who went out to find peace—and who may find peace soon ... My instinct has latterly gone all wrong, and I have made one of those irreparable mistakes, which stamp a whole life with failure. Then it

8075-401: The way he had been persuaded to be circumcised, and became successively a Baptist, then a Catholic, and flirted with other Protestant denominations. He sought a personal salvation for his own religious needs and a universal solution, as had his father, to Jewish suffering caused by antisemitism. Hans shot himself to death on the day of his sister Paulina's funeral; he was 39 years old. Hans left

8170-523: The youth movements Hashomer Hatzair and Habonim Dror . Labor Zionists also founded the Histadrut trade union. Poale Zion's successor parties, Mapam , Mapai and the Israeli Labor Party (which were led by figures such as David Ben Gurion and Golda Meir , dominated Israeli politics until 1977. General Zionism (or Liberal Zionism) was initially the dominant trend within the Zionist movement from

8265-492: Was a cry for help; a warning to others Mahnruf , a call for attention to their plight. Herzl's vision was less about mental states of Jewry, and more about delivering prescriptive answers about land. "The idea that I have developed is a very old one; it is the restoration of the Jewish State" was a follow-up of Pinsker's early weaker version Mahnruf an seine Stammesgenossen von einem nassichen Juden . Herzl visited Jerusalem for

8360-465: Was drawn to the mawkishness of Judaism rendered distinctively as German. But he remained convinced that Germany was the centre (Hauptsitz) of antisemitism rather than France. In a much quoted aside he noted "If there is one thing I should like to be, it is a member of old Prussian nobility." Herzl appealed to the nobility of Jewish England—the Rothschilds , Sir Samuel Montagu , later cabinet minister, to

8455-443: Was initially led by Ze'ev Jabotinsky and later by his successor Menachem Begin (later Prime Minister of Israel ), and emphasized the romantic elements of Jewish nationality, and the historical heritage of the Jewish people in the Land of Israel as the constituent basis for the Zionist national idea and the establishment of the Jewish State. They supported liberalism , particularly economic liberalism , and opposed Labor Zionism and

8550-462: Was inspired by the Serbian uprising and subsequent re-creation of Serbia. On 25 June 1889, he married Julie Naschauer, the 21-year-old daughter of a wealthy Jewish businessman in Vienna. The marriage was unhappy, although three children were born to it: Paulina, Hans and Margaritha (Trude). One of his biographers suggests that Herzl infected his wife with gonorrhea which he contracted in 1880. Herzl had

8645-474: Was one of the ancestors of the modern-day Likud . Kadima , the main centrist party during the 2000s that split from Likud and is now defunct, however, did identify with many of the fundamental policies of Liberal Zionist ideology, advocating among other things the need for Palestinian statehood in order to form a more democratic society in Israel, affirming the free market, and calling for equal rights for Arab citizens of Israel. In 2013, Ari Shavit suggested that

8740-482: Was penned 4 years after Herzl had confided to his diary the idea of spiriting away the population of whatever country was chosen for a future Jewish state to make way for Jews: We must expropriate gently the private property on the estates assigned to us. We shall try to spirit the penniless population across the border by procuring employment for it in the transit countries, while denying it employment in our own country The property owners will come over to our side. Both

8835-448: Was pre-figured by a similar conclusion drawn by Marx's friend Moses Hess , in Rome and Jerusalem (1862). Leon Pinsker had never yet read it, but was aware of the distant and far off Hibbat Zion . Herzl's philosophical instruction highlighted the weaknesses and vulnerabilities. To Herzl each dictator or leader had a nationalistic identity, even down to the Irish from Wolfe Tone onwards. He

8930-462: Was received by Sergei Witte , then finance minister, and Viacheslav Plehve , minister of the interior, the latter placing on record the attitude of his government toward the Zionist movement. On that occasion Herzl submitted proposals for the amelioration of the Jewish position in Russia. At the same time Joseph Chamberlain floated the idea of a Jewish Colony in what is now Kenya. The plan became known as

9025-399: Was widely regarded as one of Israel's leading journalists for many years. In 1975 he wrote an admiring if critical biography of Theodor Herzl , the founder of Zionism, but later grew disillusioned. In 2004 he sold his home in Jerusalem and moved to Tuscany. In an interview that year with Ari Shavit he stated that Zionism had "exhausted itself" and that he had come to consider it "perhaps

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