Theodor Herzl: Difference between revisions

|body_discovered =

|resting_place = 1904–1949: [[Döbling Cemetery]], [[Vienna]]<br>1949–present: [[Mount Herzl|Mt. Herzl]], [[Jerusalem]]

|nationality =

|citizenship = [[Kingdom of Hungary|Hungarian]]

}}

 

 

 

 

==Early life==

[[File:Herzl on a balcony 1901.jpg|thumb|Theodor Herzl in Basel, photographed during [[World Zionist Congress|Fifth Zionist Congress]] in December 1901, by [[Ephraim Moses Lilien]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Theodor Herzl Signed Photograph, Basel, Switzerland {{!}} Shapell Manuscript Foundation |url=https://www.shapell.org/manuscript/theodor-herzl-signed-photograph-basel-switzerland/ |website=Shapell |access-date=10 May 2023}}</ref>]]

 

 

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.<ref>Jacques Kornberg, [https://www.jstor.org/stable/1878229 "Theodor Herzl: A Reevaluation"]. ''Journal of Modern History'', Vol. 52, No. 2 (Jun. 1980), pp. 226–252 Published by the University of Chicago Press</ref> 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 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 is an assimilated Jewish lawyer who tries unsuccessfully to break through the social ghetto enforced on Western Jews.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.kedem-auctions.com/content/theodor-herzl-%E2%80%93-new-ghetto-unser-k%C3%A4thchen-%E2%80%93-first-editions |title=''Das neue Ghetto'' |access-date=1 February 2018 |archive-date=8 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180808135818/https://www.kedem-auctions.com/content/theodor-herzl-%E2%80%93-new-ghetto-unser-k%C3%A4thchen-%E2%80%93-first-editions |url-status=dead }}</ref>

According to [[Wickham Steed|Henry Wickham Steed]], Herzl was initially "fanatically devoted to the propagation of Jewish-German 'Liberal' assimilationist doctrine."<ref>''The Habsburg Monarchy'' (London 1914), p. 188</ref> However, Herzl came to reject his early ideas regarding [[Jewish emancipation]] and [[Jewish assimilation|assimilation]] and to believe that the Jews must remove themselves from Europe.<ref>Rubenstein, Richard L., and Roth, John K. (2003). ''Approaches to Auschwitz: The Holocaust and Its Legacy'', p. 94. Louisville. Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press. {{ISBN|978-0-664-22353-3}}.</ref> Herzl grew to believe that antisemitism could not be defeated or cured, only avoided, and that the only way to avoid it was the establishment of a Jewish state.<ref>{{cite book|first=Jacques|last=Kornberg <!--|author-link=Jacques Kornberg -->|title=Theodor Herzl: From Assimilation to Zionism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=31LMY9S8IBIC&q=%22Karl%20Lueger%22%20herzl&pg=PA98|series=Jewish Literature and Culture|date=1993|isbn=978-0-253-33203-5|pages=193–194|access-date=8 August 2009|publisher=[[Indiana University Press]]|location=[[Bloomington, Indiana]]|quote="Thus, for the time being, antisemitism is alien to the French people, and they are unable to comprehend it ...<br>By contrast, several months later ... Herzl was to offer a far different assessment of antisemitism in Austria, as a power and mainline movement on an upward course. Moreover, his fury over Austrian antisemitism had no parallel in his reaction to French antisemitism.}}</ref> In June 1895, he wrote in his diary: "In Paris, as I have said, I achieved a freer attitude toward anti-semitism&nbsp;... 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 the craving for literary success and a desire to act as a public figure.<ref>Vital, ''A People Apart'', vol. 2, p. 439</ref> 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.<ref>Royal Commission on Alien Immigration, 'Minutes of Evidence', 7 July 1902, p. 211</ref> His testimony before the British Royal Commission reflected his fundamental, romantic liberal view on life as the 'Problem of the Jews .'

 

 

The book concludes: {{blockquote|Therefore I believe that a wondrous generation of Jews will spring into existence. The [[Maccabees|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 the good of humanity.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/25282/25282-h/25282-h.htm|title=The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Jewish State, by Theodor Herzl.|via=gutenberg.org|date=2008-05-02}}</ref>}}

[[File:Zionist Delegation to Jerusalem 1898.jpg|thumb|right|Theodor Herzl (center) with a Zionist delegation in Jerusalem, 1898. From right to left: [[Joseph Seidener]], [[Moses T. Schnirer]], Theodor Herzl, [[David Wolffsohn]], [[Max Bodenheimer]]]]

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 [[Charles Stuart Parnell|Parnell]] of the Jews."<ref>Norman Rose, ''A Senseless, Squalid War: Voices from Israel, 1945–1948'', The Bodley Head, London, 2009, p. 2)</ref> 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, the Zionist movement could work to improve Abdul Hamid&nbsp;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."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Auron |first1=Yair |author1-link=Yair Auron |editor1-last=Bartov |editor1-first=Omer |editor2-last=Mack |editor2-first=Phyllis |title=In God's Name: Genocide and Religion in the Twentieth Century |date=2001 |publisher=Berghahn Books |isbn=978-1-57181-302-2 |pages=268–269 |language=en |chapter=Zionist and Israeli Attitudes Toward the Armenian Genocide}}</ref>

 

On 10 March 1896, Herzl was visited by Reverend [[William Hechler]], the [[Anglican]] minister to the British Embassy in Vienna. Hechler had read Herzl's {{Lang|de|Der Judenstaat}}, and the meeting became central to the eventual legitimization of Herzl and Zionism.<ref name="jewishmag.com">{{cite web|author=Jerry Klinger |url=http://jewishmag.com/145mag/herzl_hechler/herzl_hechler.htm |title=Reverend William H. Hechler—The Christian minister who legitimized Theodor Herzl |work=Jewish Magazine |date=July 2010 |access-date=26 October 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140418025605/http://jewishmag.com/145mag/herzl_hechler/herzl_hechler.htm |archive-date=18 April 2014 }}</ref> 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&nbsp;– that is, with 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."<ref>''The Diaries of Theodor Herzl'', edited by Marvin Lowenthal, Gloucester, Massachusetts, Peter Smith Pub., 1978 p. 105</ref> 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&nbsp;II]]. Through the efforts of Hechler and the Grand Duke, Herzl [[Wilhelm II's voyage to the Levant in 1898#Herzl and Zionism|publicly met Wilhelm&nbsp;II in 1898]]. The meeting significantly advanced Herzl's and Zionism's legitimacy in Jewish and world opinion.<ref name="ReferenceA">London ''Daily Mail'' Friday 18 November 1898 "An Eastern Surprise: Important Result of the Kaiser's Tour: Sultan and Emperor Agreed in Palestine: Benevolent Sanction Given to the Zionist Movement One of the most important results, if not the most important, of the Kaiser's visit to Palestine is the immense impetus it has given to Zionism, the movement for the return of the Jews to Palestine. The gain to this cause is the greater since it is immediate, but perhaps more important still is the wide political influence which this Imperial action is like to have. It has not been generally reported that when the Kaiser visited Constantinople, Dr. Herzl, the head of the Zionist movement, was there; again when the Kaiser entered Jerusalem, he found Dr.Herzl there. These were no mere coincidences, but the visible signs of accomplished facts." Herzl had achieved political legitimacy.</ref>

In Istanbul, Ottoman Empire, 15 June 1896, Herzl saw an opportunity. With the assistance of [[Count]] Philip Michael von Nevlinski, a [[Polish people|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.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1_6VSVuzCagC&dq=philip+von+nevlinski&pg=PA47|title=The Jewish State|first=Theodor|last=Herzl|date=2012|publisher=Courier Corporation|isbn=978-0-486-11961-8 |accessdate=17 August 2022|via=Google Books}}</ref> 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 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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.herzl.org/english/timeline.aspx?s=7 |title=Time Line |publisher=Herzl.org |access-date=26 October 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120118225438/http://www.herzl.org/english/timeline.aspx?s=7 |archive-date=18 January 2012 }}</ref> The medal, the "Commander's Cross of the [[Order of the Medjidie]]," was a public relations affirmation for Herzl and the Jewish world of the seriousness of the negotiations.

 

 

 

==World Jewish Congress==

 

At the same time Joseph Chamberlain floated the idea of a Jewish Colony in what is now Kenya. The plan became known as the "[[British Uganda Program|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.<ref>Laqueur, Walter. The History of Zionism. London: Tauris Parke Paperbacks, 2003. p. 111</ref> In 1905 the 7th Zionist Congress, after investigations, decided to decline the British offer and firmly committed itself to a Jewish homeland in Palestine.<ref>Schneer, pp. 113–14</ref> A ''Heimstatte''—a homeland for the Jewish people in Palestine secured by public law.<ref>David Vital, A People and a State (1999), p. 448</ref>

 

==Death and burial==

Norman planned to return to Israel following his military discharge. The Zionist Executive had worked for years through L. Lauterbach to get Norman to come to Israel as a symbol of Herzl's returning.<ref>Central Zionist Archives-extensive documentary exchange between Lauterbach and Norman 1936–1946</ref>

 

[[Military discharge|Discharged]] from the army in late spring 1946, without money or job and despondent about his future, Norman followed the advice of [[Selig Brodetsky]]. [[Herzl Rosenblum|H. Rosenblum]], the editor of ''Haboker'', a Tel Aviv daily that later became ''[[Yediot Aharonot]]'', noted in late 1945 that [[Chaim Weizmann]] deeply resented the sudden intrusion and reception of Norman when he arrived in Britain. Norman spoke to the Zionist conference in London. Haboker reported, "Something similar happened at the Zionist conference in London. The chairman suddenly announced to the meeting that in the hall there was Herzl's grandson who wanted to say a few words. The introduction was made in an absolutely dry and official way. It was felt that the chairman looked for—and found—some stylistic formula which would satisfy the visitor without appearing too cordial to anybody among the audience. In spite of that there was a great thrill in the hall when Norman mounted on the platform of the praesidium. At that moment, Dr.Weizmann turned his back on the speaker and remained in this bodily and mental attitude until the guest had finished his speech."<ref>Haboker 26 October 1945. Document amongst the papers of Stephen Norman at the Central Zionist Archives in Jerusalem</ref> The 1945 article went on to note that Norman was snubbed by Weizmann and by some in Israel during his visit because of ego, jealousy, vanity and their own personal ambitions. Brodetsky was Chaim Weizman's principal ally and supporter in Britain.

 

 

[[File:Stephen Norman Garden Marker Mt. Herzl, Jerusalem.jpg|thumb|Stephen Norman garden marker at Mount Herzl in Jerusalem]]

In ''Altneuland'', Herzl did not foresee any conflict between [[Jews]] and [[Arabs]]. One of the main characters in ''Altneuland'' is a Haifa engineer, Reshid Bey, who is one of the leaders of the "New Society." He is very grateful to his Jewish neighbors for improving the economic condition of Israel and sees no cause for conflict. All non-Jews have equal rights, and an attempt by a fanatical rabbi to disenfranchise the non-Jewish citizens of their rights fails in the election which is the center of the main political plot of the novel.<ref>{{cite news|title=Herzl's vision of racism|first=Shlomo|last=Avineri|author-link=Shlomo Avineri|url=http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1062723.html|work=[[Haaretz]]|access-date=8 August 2009|date=2 September 2009|archive-date=17 April 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090417060839/http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1062723.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

 

 

In ''Altneuland'', Herzl outlined his vision for a new Jewish state in the [[Land of Israel]]. He summed up his vision of an open society:<blockquote>"It is founded on the ideas which are a common product of all civilized nations ... It would be immoral if we would exclude anyone, whatever his origin, his descent, or his religion, from participating in our achievements. For we stand on the shoulders of other civilized peoples ... What we own we owe to the preparatory work of other peoples. Therefore, we have to repay our debt. There is only one way to do it, the highest tolerance. Our motto must therefore be, now and ever: 'Man, you are my brother.'"<ref name="Zion p.185">'Zion & the Jewish National Idea', in ''Zionism Reconsidered'', Macmillan, 1970 PB, p.185</ref></blockquote>

* {{Cite book|last=Falk|first=Avner|title=Herzl, King of the Jews: A Psychoanalytic Biography of Theodor Herzl|publisher=University Press of America|location=Washington|year=1993|isbn=978-0-8191-8925-7|author-link=Avner Falk}}

* {{Cite book|last=Elon|first=Amos|title=Herzl|publisher=Holt, Rinehart and Winston|location=New York|year=1975|isbn=978-0-03-013126-4|author-link=Amos Elon|url=https://archive.org/details/herzl00elon}}

 

====Articles====

* {{Cite journal|first=Jacques|last=Kornberg|title=Theodor Herzl: A Reevaluation|journal=Journal of Modern History|volume=52|issue= 2|date=June 1980|pages=226–252|doi=10.1086/242094|ref=226–252|jstor=1878229 |s2cid=144647248}}

 

* Penslar, Derek J. "Declarations of (In) Dependence: Tensions within Zionist Statecraft, 1896–1948." ''Journal of Levantine Studies'' 8.1 (2018): 13+ [https://www.academia.edu/download/64675881/Derek_J_Penslar_Declarations_of_InDependence_Tensions_within_Zionist_Statecraft_18961948.pdf online].

 

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