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110-615: The conference was covered by the international press, making a significant impression. The first Zionist Congress was convened by Theodor Herzl as a symbolic parliament for the small minority of Jewry in agreement with the implementation of Zionist goals. While Jewish majority indifference or opposition to Zionism would continue until after revelation of the Holocaust in World War II, some proponents point to several directions and streams of this early Jewish opposition. "Alongside

220-497: 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

330-623: A BA with triple honours in 1884. Zangwill published some of his works under the pen-names J. Freeman Bell (for works written in collaboration), and Countess von S. and Marshallik. He had already written a tale entitled The Premier and the Painter in collaboration with Louis Cowen , when he resigned his position as a teacher at the Jews' Free School owing to differences with the school managers and ventured into journalism. He initiated and edited Ariel, The London Puck , and did miscellaneous work for

440-735: 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

550-414: 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 ,

660-408: A considerable obstacle to the proposed immigration from Poland and other suffering centers". Zangwill listed the following as his more striking passages: In his writings, Zangwill expressed mixed sentiments about the then-territory of Palestine, parts of which became the modern State of Israel in 1948, two decades after his death. After the establishment of the state, Philip Rubin speculated that

770-512: 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

880-482: 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

990-641: 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

1100-564: 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

1210-546: A letter from Roosevelt in which Roosevelt wrote of The Melting Pot "That particular play I shall always count among the very strong and real influences upon my thought and my life." The protagonist of the play is David Quixano, a Russian Jewish immigrant who arrives in New York City after the Kishinev pogrom , in which his entire family is killed. He writes a great symphony named "The Crucible" expressing his hope for

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1320-445: 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. Israel Zangwill Israel Zangwill (21 January 1864  – 1 August 1926) was a British author at the forefront of Zionism during the 19th century, and was a close associate of Theodor Herzl . He later rejected

1430-629: A mediator and interpreter between the East and the West." In 1902, Zangwill wrote that Palestine "remains at this moment an almost uninhabited, forsaken and ruined Turkish territory". However, within a few years, Zangwill had "become fully aware of the Arab peril", telling an audience in New York, "Palestine proper has already its inhabitants. The pashalik of Jerusalem is already twice as thickly populated as

1540-767: 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,

1650-614: 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

1760-589: A movie with Janet Gaynor . Zangwill's simulation of Yiddish sentence structure in English aroused great interest. He also wrote mystery works, such as The Big Bow Mystery (1892), and social satire, such as The King of Schnorrers (1894), a picaresque novel (which became a short-lived musical comedy in 1979). His Dreamers of the Ghetto (1898) includes essays on famous Jews such as Baruch Spinoza , Heinrich Heine and Ferdinand Lassalle . The Big Bow Mystery

1870-399: A people, he was essentially correct, for there is no Arab people living in intimate fusion with the country, utilizing its resources and stamping it with a characteristic impress: there is at best an Arab encampment, the break-up of which would throw upon the Jews the actual manual labor of regeneration and prevent them from exploiting the fellahin , whose numbers and lower wages are moreover

1980-468: A quarter coming from Russia. Herzl was elected President of the Congress, with Max Nordau , Abraham Salz and Samuel Pineles elected first, second and third Vice Presidents respectively. Following a festive opening in which the representatives arrived in formal dress , tails and white tie , the Congress moved to the agenda. The principal items on the agenda were the presentation of Herzl's plans,

2090-541: A response to the rise of anti-Semitism in Europe during the early 20th century. It proposed the establishment of a Jewish homeland outside of Palestine, offering alternative solutions to the ongoing debate about Jewish self-determination and Zionism. After having for a time endorsed Theodor Herzl , including presiding over a meeting at the Maccabean Club, London, addressed by Herzl on 24 November 1895, and endorsing

2200-486: A school for Jewish immigrant children. The school offered a strict course of both secular and religious studies while supplying clothing, food, and health care for the scholars; presently one of its four houses is named Zangwill in his honour. At this school he excelled and even taught part-time, eventually becoming a full-fledged teacher. While teaching, he studied for his degree from the University of London , earning

2310-789: 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

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2420-403: 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

2530-444: 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

2640-532: A success in the United States in 1909–10. The theatrical work explored the themes of ethnic tensions and the idea of cultural assimilation in early 20th-century America. When The Melting Pot opened in Washington, D.C., on 5 October 1908, former President Theodore Roosevelt leaned over the edge of his box and shouted "That's a great play, Mr. Zangwill. That's a great play." In 1912, Zangwill received

2750-549: 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

2860-452: 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

2970-538: 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

3080-430: A thing? To be sure there is, the ancient and rightful lords of the soil, the Jews!" In his diary that year he wrote "these vast and fertile regions will soon be without a ruler, without a known and acknowledged power to claim dominion. The territory must be assigned to some one or other.... There is a country without a nation; and God now in his wisdom and mercy, directs us to a nation without a country." Shaftesbury himself

3190-460: A world in which all ethnicity has melted away, and becomes enamored of a beautiful Russian Christian immigrant named Vera. The dramatic climax of the play is the moment when David meets Vera's father, who turns out to be the Russian officer responsible for the annihilation of David's family. Vera's father admits guilt, the symphony is performed to accolades, and David and Vera agree to wed and kiss as

3300-530: Is God's Crucible, the great Melting-Pot where all the races of Europe are melting and reforming...Germans and Frenchmen, Irishmen and Englishmen, Jews and Russians – into the Crucible with you all! God is making the American." Zangwill was also involved with specifically Jewish issues as an assimilationist, an early Zionist, and a territorialist . Jewish territorialism was a political movement that emerged as

3410-529: 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

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3520-570: 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,

3630-485: 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

3740-616: 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

3850-796: 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

3960-707: 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

4070-770: 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

4180-578: 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

4290-596: The Judenstaat . Pinsker's manifesto 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

4400-702: 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

4510-468: 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

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4620-558: 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

4730-538: 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

4840-535: The Article Club, Zangwill pretended to speak as the weary, Ashkenazic folktale character, the Wandering Jew , saying, "restore the country without a people to the people without a country... For we have something to give as well as to get. We can sweep away the blackmailer—be he Pasha or Bedouin—we can make the wilderness blossom as the rose, and build up in the heart of the world a civilization that may be

4950-772: 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

5060-612: 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),

5170-672: 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

5280-584: The Congress, which was originally planned in Munich , Germany , was transferred to Basel by Herzl. The Congress took place in the concert hall of the Stadtcasino Basel on August 29, 1897. Proceedings were conducted in German . Herzl acted as chairperson of the Congress, which was attended by some 200 participants from seventeen countries, 69 of whom were delegates from various Zionist societies, and

5390-418: 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

5500-463: 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

5610-638: 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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5720-575: 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

5830-550: 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

5940-410: 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

6050-435: The London press. Zangwill's work earned him the nickname "the Dickens of the Ghetto ". He wrote a very influential novel Children of the Ghetto: A Study of a Peculiar People (1892), which the late 19th-century English novelist George Gissing called "a powerful book". The use of the metaphorical phrase " melting pot " to describe American absorption of immigrants was popularised by Zangwill's play The Melting Pot ,

6160-416: 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

6270-442: 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

6380-602: The Ottoman Turks during World War I. It expanded the ZO's Palestine office, which was established in 1907, into small departments for agriculture, settlement, education, land, finance, immigration, and statistics. In 1921, the commission became the Palestine Zionist Executive , which acted as the Jewish Agency , to advise the British mandate authorities on the development of the country in matters of Jewish interest. The Zionist Congress met every year between 1897 and 1901, then except for war years, every second year (1903–1913, 1921–1939). In 1942, an " Extraordinary Zionist Conference "

6490-441: 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

6600-407: The United States" leaving Zionists the choice of driving the Arabs out or dealing with a "large alien population". He moved his support to the Uganda scheme , leading to a break with the mainstream Zionist movement by 1905. In 1908, Zangwill told a London court that he had been naive when he made his 1901 speech and had since "realized what is the density of the Arab population", namely twice that of

6710-454: The United States. In 1913 he criticized those who insisted on repeating that Palestine was "empty and derelict" and who called him a traitor for reporting otherwise. According to Ze'ev Jabotinsky , Zangwill told him in 1916 that, "If you wish to give a country to a people without a country, it is utter foolishness to allow it to be the country of two peoples. This can only cause trouble. The Jews will suffer and so will their neighbours. One of

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6820-482: 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

6930-652: 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 ,

7040-460: 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

7150-415: 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

7260-415: 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

7370-421: The cause of people he considered oppressed, becoming involved with topics such as Jewish emancipation , Jewish assimilation , territorialism , Zionism , and women's suffrage . His brother was novelist Louis Zangwill . Zangwill received his early schooling in Plymouth and Bristol. When he was eight years old, his parents moved to Spitalfields, East London and he was enrolled in the Jews' Free School there,

7480-422: 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

7590-415: 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

7700-429: The curtain falls. " Melting Pot celebrated America's capacity to absorb and grow from the contributions of its immigrants." Zangwill was writing as "a Jew who no longer wanted to be a Jew. His real hope was for a world in which the entire lexicon of racial and religious difference is thrown away." However, the play also addresses the challenges and conflicts that arise when different ethnic groups collide. It portrays

7810-479: 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

7920-813: The discourse on multiculturalism and the American identity, and it remains a significant work in the context of American theater and the portrayal of ethnic tensions on stage. Zangwill wrote many other plays, including, on Broadway, Children of the Ghetto (1899), a dramatization of his own novel, directed by James A. Herne and starring Blanche Bates , Ada Dwyer , and Wilton Lackaye ; Merely Mary Ann (1903) and Nurse Marjorie (1906), both of which were directed by Charles Cartwright and starred Eleanor Robson . Liebler & Co. produced all three plays as well as The Melting Pot . Daniel Frohman produced Zangwill's 1904 play The Serio-Comic Governess , featuring Cecilia Loftus , Kate Pattison-Selten, and Julia Dean . In 1931, Jules Furthman adapted Merely Mary Ann for

8030-495: The dynamic development of the Zionist movement, which generated waves of enthusiasm throughout the Jewish public, sharp criticism began to appear about Zionism, claiming that Zionism could not hope to resolve the Jewish problem and would only serve to harm the status of Jewish laborers and sabotage its own recognition as an independent class." As a result of the vocal opposition by both the Orthodox and Reform community leadership,

8140-467: 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

8250-470: The establishment of the Zionist Organization and the declaration of Zionism's goals—the Basel program . According to the 200-page Official Protocol, the three-day conference included the following events: The "Zionist Executive" elected by the First Congress consisted of: In addition, it was agreed that one representative was to be appointed for each of Britain , America and Palestine . This

8360-538: 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

8470-465: 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

8580-563: The following: Theodor Herzl wrote in his diary (September 3, 1897): Were I to sum up the Basel Congress in a word - which I shall guard against pronouncing publicly - it would be this: At Basel I founded the Jewish State . If I said this out loud today l would be greeted by universal laughter. In five years perhaps, and certainly in fifty years, everyone will perceive it. Subsequent congresses founded various institutions for

8690-503: 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,

8800-499: 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

8910-478: The laws of the various countries. 3. The strengthening of Jewish feeling and national consciousness. 4. Preparatory steps for obtaining the governmental approval which is necessary to the achievement of the Zionist purpose. According to Israel Zangwill it was Max Nordau who came up with the phrase "home secured by public law" to avoid antagonising the Sultan "too deeply". The First Zionist Congress resulted in

9020-572: The main Palestine-oriented Zionist movement. Zangwill changed his mind and founded his own organization, named the Jewish Territorialist Organization in 1905, advocating a Jewish homeland in whatever land might be available in the world which could be found for them, with speculations including Canada, Australia, Mesopotamia, Uganda and Cyrenaica . Zangwill is inaccurately known for creating

9130-452: The new state might have met his aspirations. He was an early suffragist. During World War I , he advocated the formation of a Jewish foreign legion to the central powers . "The League of Damnations" is a term associated with Zangwill's critique of the anti-Semitic sentiment prevalent in Europe during his time. He used this phrase to describe the collective hostility and discrimination faced by Jewish people in various countries. Zangwill

9240-415: 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

9350-504: 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

9460-546: 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

9570-878: The promotion of this program, notably a people's bank known as the Jewish Colonial Trust , which was the financial instrument of political Zionism. Its establishment was suggested at the First Zionist Congress in 1897; the first definite steps toward its institution were taken at the Second Zionist Congress in Cologne , Germany in May, 1898. For the Fifth Zionist Congress, the Jewish National Fund

9680-578: 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

9790-475: The remainder were individual invitees. Seventeen women attended the Congress, some of them in their own capacity, others accompanying representatives. While women participated in the First Zionist Congress, they did not have voting rights; they were accorded full membership rights at the Second Zionist Congress , the following year. Over half the delegates were from Eastern Europe, with nearly

9900-589: The search for a Jewish homeland in Palestine and became the prime thinker behind the territorial movement . Zangwill was born in Whitechapel , London on 21 January 1864, in a family of Jewish immigrants from the Russian Empire . His father, Moses Zangwill, was from what is now Latvia , and his mother, Ellen Hannah Marks Zangwill, was from what is now Poland . He dedicated his life to championing

10010-476: The settlement orientated activities of the more loosely organized Hovevei Zion . To meet halfway the request of numerous delegates, the most prominent of whom was Leo Motzkin , who sought the inclusion of the phrase "by international law," a compromise formula proposed by Herzl was eventually adopted. The program, which came to be known as the Basel Program , set out the goals of the Zionist movement. It

10120-541: The slogan " A land without a people for a people without a land " describing Zionist aspirations in the Biblical land of Israel. He did not invent the phrase; he acknowledged borrowing it from Lord Shaftesbury . In 1853, during the preparation for the Crimean War , Shaftesbury wrote to Foreign Secretary Aberdeen that Greater Syria was "a country without a nation" in need of "a nation without a country.... Is there such

10230-412: The tensions between the Jewish and Christian communities, as well as the struggles of immigrants to find their place in a new society while preserving their cultural heritage. "The Melting Pot" resonated with audiences during its time, as it captured the spirit of the American immigrant experience and explored issues of assimilation, identity, and the potential for a unified nation. The play contributed to

10340-433: 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

10450-405: The two: a different place must be found either for the Jews or for their neighbours". In 1917, he wrote "'Give the country without a people,' magnanimously pleaded Lord Shaftesbury, 'to the people without a country.' Alas, it was a misleading mistake. The country holds 600,000 Arabs." In 1921, Zangwill suggested Lord Shaftesbury "was literally inexact in describing Palestine as a country without

10560-403: 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

10670-418: Was adopted on the following terms: Zionism seeks to establish a home in Palestine for the Jewish people, secured under public law. To achieve this goal, the Congress envisages the following means: 1. The expedient promotion of the settlement of Jewish agriculturists, artisans, and businessmen in Palestine. 2. The organization and bringing together of all Jews through local and general events, according to

10780-523: 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

10890-552: Was an ardent opponent of anti-Semitism and used his writings to expose and challenge the prejudices and injustices faced by Jews. Zangwill married Edith Ayrton in 1903. She was a feminist and author, and the daughter of cousins William Edward Ayrton and Matilda Chaplin Ayrton . Ayrton's stepmother was Hertha Ayrton , who, like Zangwill, was Jewish. The Zangwill family lived for many years in East Preston, West Sussex in

11000-412: Was disliked by 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

11110-472: 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

11220-598: Was echoing the sentiments of Alexander Keith, D.D. In 1901, in the New Liberal Review , Zangwill wrote that "Palestine is a country without a people; the Jews are a people without a country". Theodor Herzl got along well with Israel Zangwill and Max Nordau. They were both writers or 'men of letters'. In November 1901 Zangwill was still misreading the situation: "Palestine has but a small population of Arabs and fellahin and wandering, lawless, blackmailing Bedouin tribes." To conclude his opening address to

11330-525: Was founded for the purchase of land in Palestine and later the Zionist Commission was founded with subsidiary societies for the study and improvement of the social and economic condition of the Jews within the Land of Israel. The Zionist Commission was an informal group established by Chaim Weizmann . It carried out initial surveys of Palestine and aided the repatriation of Jews sent into exile by

11440-600: Was held and announced a fundamental departure from traditional Zionist policy with its demand "that Palestine be established as a Jewish Commonwealth." It became the official Zionist stand on the ultimate aim of the movement. Since the Second World War, meetings have been held approximately every four years and since the establishment of the State of Israel , the Congress has been held in Jerusalem . Theodor Herzl Theodor Herzl (2 May 1860 – 3 July 1904)

11550-471: 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

11660-499: Was one of the first locked room mystery novels. It has been almost continuously in print since 1891 and has been used as the basis for three movies. Another much produced play was The Lens Grinder , based on the life of Spinoza . Zangwill endorsed feminism and pacifism, but his greatest effect may have been as a writer who popularised the idea of the combination of ethnicities into a single, American nation. The hero of his widely produced play The Melting Pot proclaims: "America

11770-483: 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

11880-452: 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

11990-458: Was proposed to take place later at publicly convened assemblies. On the second day of its deliberations (August 30), the version submitted to the Congress by a committee under the chair of Max Nordau , it was stated: " Zionism seeks to establish a home for the Jewish people in Palestine secured under public law." This gave clear expression to Herzl's political Zionist vision, in contrast with

12100-413: 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

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