Theodor Herzl

Theodor Herzl
בנימין זאב הרצל (Hebrew)

Theodor Herzl
Born Binyamin Ze’ev Herzl
May 2, 1860(1860-05-02)
Pest, Hungary
Died July 3, 1904(1904-07-03) (aged 44)
Edlach, Austria-Hungary
Cause of death Heart failure
Resting place 1904 –– 1949: Döblinger Friedhof, Vienna, Austria
1949-present: Mt. Herzl, Jerusalem, Israel
Residence Vienna
Nationality Austria-Hungary
Education Law
Alma mater University of Vienna
Occupation Journalist, playwright, writer, political activist
Known for Father of modern political Zionism
Religion Judaism
Spouse Julie Naschauer (m. 1889–1904) «start: (1889)–end+1: (1905)»"Marriage: Julie Naschauer to Theodor Herzl" Location: (linkback:http://localhost../../../../articles/t/h/e/Theodor_Herzl_a77f.html)
Signature
Theodor Herzl in Basel, 1897
A plaque marking the birthplace of Theodor Herzl, Dohány Street Synagogue, Budapest.

Theodor Herzl (Hebrew: בנימין זאב הרצל‎, born Binyamin Ze’ev Herzl, also known as חוזה המדינה, Hozeh HaMedinah, lit. "Visionary of the State"; Hungarian: Herzl Tivadar; Serbian: Теодор Херцл; Teodor Hercl) (May 2, 1860 –– July 3, 1904) was an Austro-Hungarian journalist and the father of modern political Zionism and in effect the State of Israel.

Contents

Early life

He was born in Pest to a Jewish family originally from Belgrade, Serbia. He was second child of Jeanette and Jakob Herzl, who were German-speaking, assimilated Jews. A precocious, moody daydreamer, he aspired to follow the footsteps of Ferdinand de Lesseps, builder of the Suez Canal. His success in the sciences failed him, and he developed a growing enthusiasm for poetry and the humanities. This passion would later develop into a successful career in journalism and a less celebrated pursuit of play-writing.[1]

Herzl had minimal interest in Judaism as a child, consistent with his parents’ lax adherence to the Jewish tradition. His mother relied more on German humanist Kultur than Jewish ethics. Instead of a Bar Mitzvah, Herzl’s thirteenth birthday was advertised a “confirmation”. To be sure, he grew up as a “thoroughly emancipated, antitraditional, secular, would-be German boy” who dismissed all religion, and spoke of Judaism with “mocking cynicism.” He exhibited a secularist disdain toward religion, which he saw as uncivilized. Even after becoming interested in The Jewish question, Herzl's writing retained traces of Jewish self-contempt.[2]

In 1878, after the death of his sister, Pauline, Herzl's family moved to Vienna, Austria-Hungary. There, Herzl studied law. After a brief legal career in Vienna and Salzburg,[3] he devoted himself to journalism and literature, working as a correspondent for the Neue Freie Presse in Paris, occasionally making special trips to London and Istanbul. Later on, he became literary editor of Neue Freie Presse, and wrote several comedies and dramas for the Viennese stage.

As a young man, Herzl was engaged in a Burschenschaft association, which strove for German unity under the motto Ehre, Freiheit, Vaterland ("Honor, Freedom, Fatherland"), and his early work did not focus on Jewish life. His work was of the feuilleton order, descriptive rather than political.

Zionist leader

As the Paris correspondent for Neue Freie Presse, Herzl followed the Dreyfus Affair, a notorious anti-Semitic incident in France in which a French Jewish army captain was falsely convicted of spying for Germany. He witnessed mass rallies in Paris following the Dreyfus trial where many chanted "Death to the Jews!" Herzl came to reject his early ideas regarding Jewish emancipation and assimilation, and to believe that the Jews must remove themselves from Europe and create their own state.[4] There is, however, some debate on the extent of which Herzl was really influenced by the Dreyfus Affair. Indeed, some claim, such as Kornberg, that this is a myth that Herzl did not feel necessary to deflate, and that he also believed that Dreyfus was guilty.[5]

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." However, in recent decades historians have downplayed the influence of the Dreyfus Affair on Herzl, even terming it a myth. They have shown that, while upset by anti-Semitism evident in French society, he, like most contemporary observers, initially believed in Dreyfus's guilt and only claimed to have been inspired by the affair years later when it had become an international cause celebre. Rather, it was the rise to power of the anti-Semitic 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 he 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. Around this time Herzl grew to believe that anti-Semitism could not be defeated or cured, only avoided, and that the only way to avoid it was the establishment of a Jewish state.[6] 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 the Jewish question is not solved on the political level. The unfortunate Jews are now carrying the seeds of anti-Semitism into England; they have already introduced it into America.[7]

Beginning in late 1895, Herzl wrote Der Judenstaadt, the Jewish State. It is published February, 1896 to immediate acclaim and controversy. In the book he outlines the reasons that the Jewish people, who so desire, to return to their historic homeland, Palestine. The book and the Herzl's ideas spread very rapidly throughout the Jewish world and attracts international attention. Supporters of existing Zionist movements such as the Hovevei Zion are immediately draw to, and ally with, Herzl. Controversially, Herzl and his ideas are vilified by establishment Jewry who perceive his ideas both as threatening to their efforts at acceptance and integration in their resident countries and as rebellion against the will of God.

Herzl begins to energetically promote his ideas, continually attracting supporters, Jewish and non-Jewish.

March 10, 1896, Herzl is visited by Reverend William Hechler, the Anglican minister for the British Embassy. Hechler had read Herzl's Der Judenstaadt. The meeting would be central to the eventual legitimization of Herzl and Zionism.,[8] 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 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."[9] Hechler arranged an extended audience with Frederick I, Grand Duke of Baden, April, 1896. The Grand Duke was the uncle of Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany. Through the efforts of Hechler and the Grand Duke, Herzl publicly met the Kaiser in 1898. The meeting significantly advanced Herzl's and Zionism legitimacy in Jewish and world opinion. [10]

May, 1896, the English translation of his Der Judenstaat (The Jewish State) appears in London. Herzl earlier had 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".[11]

A sketch in Herzl's Diary of a proposed flag for the Zionist movement.

Constantinople, Turkey, June 15, 1896; Herzl sees an opportunity. With the assistance of Count Philip Michael Nevlenski, a sympathetic Polish émigré with political contacts in the Ottoman Court, Herzl attempted to meet the Sultan Abdulhamid II. Herzl wanted to present his solution to the Jewish State to the Sultan directly. He failed to obtain an audience with the Sultan. He 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 that the Jews would pay the Turkish foreign debt, and attempt to help regulate Turkish finances, if they were given Palestine as a Jewish homeland under Turkish rule. Prior to leaving Constantinople, June 29,1896, Nevlenski obtained for Herzl a symbolic medal of honor.[12] The medal was a public relations affirmation for Herzl, and the Jewish world, of the seriousness of the negotiations, the "Commander's Cross of the Order of the Medjidje".

(Five years later, May 17, 1901, Herzl did meet with Sultan Abdulhamid II[13]. The Sultan, perceiving himself as the titular head of the Islamic world, refused to cede Palestine to Zionists, saying, "if one day the Islamic State falls apart then you can have Palestine for free, but as long as I am alive I would rather have my flesh be cut up than cut out Palestine from the Muslim land.")

Returning from Constantinople, Herzl traveled to London, to report back to the Maccabeans, a proto-Zionist group of established English Jewry led by Colonel Albert Goldsmid. November,1895, they had received him with curiosity, indifference and coldness. Israel Zangwill bitterly opposed Herzl. After Constantinople, Goldsmid agreed to support Herzl. In London's East End, a community of primarily Yiddish speaking recent Eastern European Jewish immigrants, Herzl addressed a mass rally of thousands, July 12, 1896. He 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 continued growing very rapidly.

In 1897, at considerable personal expense, he founded Die Welt of Vienna, Austria-Hungary and planned the First Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland. He was elected president (a position he held until his death in 1904), and in 1898 he began a series of diplomatic initiatives intended to build support for a Jewish country. He was received by the German emperor, Wilhelm II, on several occasions, one of them in Jerusalem, and attended The Hague Peace Conference, enjoying a warm reception by many other statesmen.

Herzl visited Jerusalem for the first time in October 1898. Herzl deliberately coordinated his visit with that of Kaiser Wilhelm II to secure, what he thought had been prearranged with the aid of Rev. William Hechler, a public world power recognition of himself and Zionism. [14] Herzl and Kaiser Wilhelm first met publicly, October 29, at Mikveh Israel, near present day Holon, Israel. It was a brief but historic meeting.[15] He had a second formal, public audience with the emperor at the latter's tent camp on Street of the Prophets in Jerusalem, November 2, 1898.[16] [17] [18]

In 1902–03 Herzl was invited to give evidence before the British Royal Commission on Alien Immigration. The appearance brought him into close contact with members of the British government, particularly with Joseph Chamberlain, then secretary of state for the colonies, 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.

In 1903, Herzl attempted to obtain support for the Jewish homeland from Pope Pius X. Cardinal Rafael Merry del Val explained to him the Church's policy of non possumus on such matters, saying that as long as the Jews deny the divinity of Christ, the Church certainly could not make a declaration in their favor.[19]

On the failure of that scheme, which took him to Cairo, he received, through L. J. Greenberg, an offer (August 1903) on the part of the British government to facilitate a large Jewish settlement, with autonomous government and under British suzerainty, in British East Africa. At the same time, the Zionist movement being threatened by the Russian government, he visited St. Petersburg and was received by Sergei Witte, then finance minister, and Viacheslav Plehve, minister of the interior, the latter of whom placed 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. He published the Russian statement, and brought the British offer, commonly known as the "Uganda Project," before the Sixth Zionist Congress (Basel, August 1903), carrying the majority (295:178, 98 abstentions) with him on the question of investigating this offer, after the Russian delegation stormed out.

In 1905, after investigation, the Congress decided to decline the British offer and firmly committed itself to a Jewish homeland in the historic Land of Israel.

Death and burial

First Grave of Theodor Herzl in the cemetery of Döbling (German: Döblinger Friedhof), Vienna, Austria ).
Honor guard stands beside Herzl's coffin in Israel
Title page of Der Judenstaat. 1896
Title page of Altneuland. 1902

Herzl did not live to see the rejection of the Uganda plan. At 5 p.m. July 3, 1904 in Edlach, Lower Austria, Theodor Herzl 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.”[20]

His will stipulated that he should have 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 Palestine".[21] 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, read the kaddish[22].

In 1948 his remains were moved from Vienna to be reburied on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem.

Der Judenstaat and Altneuland

Beginning in late 1895, Herzl wrote Der Judenstaat, the Jewish State. The small book is initially published, February 14,1896, in Leipiz, Germany and Vienna, Austria by M. Breitenstein's Verlags-Buchhandlung. It is subtitled "Versuch einer modernen Lösung der Judenfrage", "Proposal of a modern solution for the Jewish question"

Herzl's solution is the creation of a Jewish State. In the book he outlines his reasoning for the need to reestablish the historic Jewish State.

“The idea I have developed in this pamphlet is an ancient one: It is the restoration of the Jewish State. . ."

"The decisive factor is our propelling force. And what is that force? The plight of the Jews. . . I am profoundly convinced that I am right, though I doubt whether I shall live to see myself proved so. Those who today inaugurate this movement are unlikely to live to see its glorious culmination. But the very inauguration is enough to inspire in them a high pride and the joy of an inner liberation of their existence. . ."

"The plan would seem mad enough if a single individual were to undertake it; but if many Jews simultaneously agree on it, it is entirely reasonable, and its achievement presents no difficulties worth mentioning. The idea depends only on the number of its adherents. Perhaps our ambitious young men, to whom every road of advancement is now closed, and for whom the Jewish state throws open a bright prospect of freedom, happiness, and honor, perhaps they will see to it that this idea is spread. . ."

"It depends on the Jews themselves whether this political document remains for the present a political romance. If this generation is too dull to understand it rightly, a future, finer, more advanced generation will arise to comprehend it. The Jews who will try it shall achieve their State; and they will deserve it. . ."

"I consider the Jewish question neither a social nor a religious one, even though it sometimes takes these and other forms. It is a national question, and to solve it we must first of all establish it as an international political problem to be discussed and settled by the civilized nations of the world in council.

We are a people — one people.

We have sincerely tried everywhere to merge with the national communities in which we live, seeking only to preserve the faith of our fathers. It is not permitted us. In vain are we loyal patriots, sometimes superloyal; in vain do we make the same sacrifices of life and property as our fellow citizens; in vain do we strive to enhance the fame of our native lands in the arts and sciences, or her wealth by trade and commerce. In our native lands where we have lived for centuries we are still decried as aliens, often by men whose ancestors had not yet come at a time when Jewish sighs had long been heard in the country. . ."

"Oppression and persecution cannot exterminate us. No nation on earth has endured such struggles and sufferings as we have. Jew-baiting has merely winnowed out our weaklings; the strong among us defiantly return to their own whenever persecution breaks out. . ."

"Wherever we remain politically secure for any length of time, we assimilate. I think this is not praiseworthy. . ."

"Palestine is our unforgettable historic homeland. . ."

"Let me repeat once more my opening words: The Jews who will it shall achieve their State. We shall live at last as free men on our own soil, and in our own homes peacefully die. The world will be liberated by our freedom, enriched by our wealth, magnified by our greatness. And whatever we attempt there for our own benefit will redound mightily and beneficially to the good of all mankind.” [23]

His last literary work, Altneuland (in English: The Old New Land, 1902), is a novel devoted to Zionism. Herzl occupied his free time for three years in writing what he believed might be accomplished by 1923. It is less a novel, though the form is that of romance, than a serious forecasting of what could be done within one generation. The keynotes of the story are the love for Zion, the insistence upon the fact that the changes in life suggested are not utopian, but are to be brought about simply by grouping all the best efforts and ideals of every race and nation; and each such effort is quoted and referred to in such a manner as to show that Altneuland, though blossoming through the skill of the Jew, will in reality be the product of the benevolent efforts of all the members of the human family.

Herzl envisioned a Jewish state which combined both a modern Jewish culture with the best of the European heritage. Thus a Palace of Peace would be built in Jerusalem, arbitrating international disputes, and at the same time the Temple would be rebuilt on modern principles. Herzl did not envision the Jewish inhabitants of the state being religious, but there would be much respect for religion in the public sphere. He also assumed that many languages would be spoken, but Hebrew would not be the main tongue. Proponents of a Jewish cultural rebirth, such as Ahad Ha'am were critical of Altneuland.

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", is very grateful to his Jewish neighbors for improving the economic condition of Palestine 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.[24] Herzl also envisioned the future Jewish state to be a "third way" between capitalism and socialism, with a developed welfare program and public ownership of the main natural resources and industry, agriculture and even trade organized on a cooperative basis. He called this mixed economic model "Mutualism", a term derived from French utopian socialist thinking. Women would have equal voting rights - as they did have in the Zionist movement from the Second Zionist Congress onwards.

In Altneuland, Herzl outlined his vision for a new Jewish state in the Land of Israel. Herzl summed up his vision for an open society:

“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.’” (Quoted in “Zion & the Jewish National Idea”, in Zionism Reconsidered, Macmillan, 1970 PB, p.185)

In his novel, Herzl wrote about an electoral campaign in the new state. He directed his wrath against the nationalist party which wished to make the Jews a privileged class in Palestine. Herzl regarded that as a betrayal of Zion, for Zion was identical to him with humanitarianism and tolerance – that this was true in politics as well as in religion. Herzl wrote:

“Matters of faith were once and for all excluded from public influence. … Whether anyone sought religious devotion in the synagogue, in the church, in the mosque, in the art museum, or in a philharmonic concert, did not concern society. That was his [own] private affair.” (Quoted in “Zion & the Jewish National Idea”, in Zionism Reconsidered, Macmillan, 1970 PB, p.185)

Altneuland was written both for Jews and non-Jews: Herzl wanted to win over non-Jewish opinion for Zionism.[25] When he was still thinking of Argentina as a possible venue for massive Jewish immigration, he mentioned in his diary he

"When we occupy the land, we shall bring immediate benefits to the state that receives us. 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 any employment in our country. The property owners will come over to our side. Both the process of expropriation and the removal of the poor must be carried out discretely and circumspectly … It goes without saying that we shall respectfully tolerate persons of other faiths and protect their property, their honor, and their freedom with the harshest means of coercion. This is another area in which we shall set the entire world a wonderful example … Should there be many such immovable owners in individual areas [who would not sell their property to us], we shall simply leave them there and develop our commerce in the direction of other areas which belong to us," "The Complete Diaries of Theodor Herzl," vol. 1 (New York: Herzl Press and Thomas Yoseloff, 1960), pp. 88, 90 (hereafter Herzl diaries.

Herzl's draft of a charter for a Jewish-Ottoman Land Company (JOLC) gave the JOLC the right to obtain land in Palestine by giving its owners comparable land elsewhere in the Ottoman empire.

The name of Tel Aviv is the title given to the Hebrew translation of Altneuland by the translator, Nahum Sokolow. This name, which comes from Ezekiel 3:15, means tell— an ancient mound formed when a town is built on its own debris for thousands of years— of spring. The name was later applied to the new town built outside of Jaffa, which went on to become Tel Aviv-Yafo the second-largest city in Israel. The nearby city to the north, Herzlia, was named in honor of Herzl.

Family

Herzl's grandfathers, both of whom he knew, were more closely related to traditional Judaism than his parents, yet two of his paternal grandfather's brothers and his maternal grandmother's brother exemplify complete estrangement and rejection of Judaism on the one hand, and utter loyalty and devotion to Judaism and Eretz Israel. In Zemun (Zemlin), Grandfather Simon Loeb Herzl "had his hands on" one of 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.[26] Herzl’s grandparents' graves in Semlin can still be visited.[27] Alkalai himself, was witness to the rebirth of Serbia from Ottoman rule in the early and mid 19th century, and was inspired by the Serbian uprising and subsequent re-creation of Serbia.

Jakob Herzl (1836–1902), Theodor's father, was a highly successful businessman. Herzl had one sister, Pauline, a year older than he was, who died suddenly on February 7, 1878 of typhus.[28] Theodor lived with his family in 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.[29][30] The remains of Herzl's parents and sister were re-buried on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem.

In June, 25, 1889 he married Julie Naschauer, daughter of a wealthy Jewish businessman in Vienna. The marriage was unhappy, although three children were born to it. Herzl had 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.[31]

All three children died tragically.

His daughter Pauline suffered from mental illness and drug addiction. She died in 1930 at the age of 40, of a heroin overdose.[32] His son Hans, a converted Catholic, committed suicide (gunshot) the day of sister Pauline's funeral.[33] He was 39. In 2006 the remains of Pauline and Hans were moved from Bordeaux, France, and placed alongside their father.[34][35]

The youngest daughter, Trude Margarethe, (officially Margarethe, 1893–1943) married Richard Neumann. He lost his fortune in the economic depression. He was burdened by the steep costs of hospitalizing Trude, who was mentally ill, and was finding it difficult to raise the money required to send his son Stephan, 14, to a boarding school in London. After she had spent many years in hospitals, the Nazis sent Trude to Theresienstadt where she died. Her body was burned.[33]{Likewise her mother who died in 1907 was cremated-her ashes were lost by accident}

Trude's son (Herzl's only grandchild), Stephan Theodor Neumann (1918–1946) was sent to England, 1935, for his safety, at the request of his father Richard Neumann to the Viennese Zionists and the Zionist Executive in Palestine.[36] The Neumann's deeply feared for the safety of their only child as rabid Austrian anti-Semitism expanded. In England, he read extensively about his grandfather. Zionism had not been a significant part of his background in Austria. Stephan became an ardent Zionist. He was the only immediate descendant of Herzl to be a Zionist. Anglicizing his name to Stephen Norman, during World War II, Norman enlisted in 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 impressed him the most was that there was a "look of freedom" in the faces of the children, not like the sallow look of those from the concentration camps of Europe. He wrote upon leaving Palestine, "My visit to Palestine is over... It is said that to go away is to die a little. And I know that when I went away from Erez Israel, I died a little. But sure, then, to return is somehow to be reborn. And I will return."[37]

Norman planned to return to Palestine following his military discharge. The Zionist Executive, through Dr. L.Lauterbach had worked for years to get Norman to come to Palestine. [38] He would be the symbol of Herzl returing.

Operation Agatha of June 29, 1946, precluded that possibility: British military and police fanned out throughout Palestine and arrested Jewish activists. About 2,700 individuals were arrested. July 2, 1946, Stephen wrote to Mrs. Stybovitz-Kahn in Haifa. Her father, Jacob Kahn, had been a good friend of Herzl and a well know Dutch Banker before the war. Stephen wrote "I intend to go to Palestine on 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." [39]

He never did return to Palestine.

Demobilized from the British army in late spring 1946, without any money, or job and despondent about his future, Norman followed the advice of the Dr. Selig Brodetsky.[40] Norman secured, through influence, a very desirable, but minor position postion with the British Economic and Scientific mission in Washington, D.C. in late August 1946. Shortly after arriving in Washington he learned that his family had been exterminated. Norman had reestablished contact with his old nanny in Vienna, Wuth who informed him of what happened. [41] Norman became deeply depressed over the fate of his family and his inability to help the Jewish people "languishing" in the European camps. Unable to endure the suffering any further, he jumped to his death from the Massachusetts Avenue Bridge in Washington, D.C., November 26, 1946. Norman was buried by the Jewish Agency in Washington, D.C. His tombstone read simply, 'Stephen Theodore Norman, Captain Royal Artillery British Army, Grandson of Theodore Herzl, April 21, 1918 - November 26, 1946'.[42] Norman was the only member of Herzl's family to have been a Zionist, been to Palestine, and openly stated his desire to return.

After 61 years of forgetful neglect, he was reburied with his family on Mt. Herzl, in the Plot for Zionist Leaders, December 5, 2007.[43][44][45][46]

In Jerusalem, on Mt. Herzl, the Stephen Norman garden/park is being completed in Stephen's honor and memory. It will be the only memorial in the world to a Herzl, other than to Theodor Herzl. The Stephen Norman garden/park will be dedicated May, 2011 by the Jerusalem Foundation, the Jewish Agency and the Jewish American Society for Historic Preservation. [47]

Writings

"If you will it, it is not a legend."a phrase from Herzl's book Old New Land, became a popular slogan of the Zionist movement—the striving for a Jewish National Home in Israel.

Biographies of Theodor Herzl

See also

References

  1. Elon, Amos (1975). Herzl, p.21-22, New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston. ISBN 978-0-03-013126-4.
  2. Elon, Amos (1975). Herzl, p.23, New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston. ISBN 978-0-03-013126-4.
  3. "Theodor Herzl (1860-1904". Jewish Agency for Israel. http://www.jafi.org.il/education/100/PEOPLE/BIOS/herzl.html. Retrieved 2009-08-08. "He received a doctorate in law in 1884 and worked for a short while in courts in Vienna and Salzburg." 
  4. Rubenstein, Richard L., and Roth, John K. (2003). Approaches to Auschwitz: The Holocaust and Its Legacy, p. 94. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press. ISBN 0-664-22353-2.
  5. Theodore Herzl: A Reevaluation, Jacques Kornberg in The Journal of Modern History, Vol. 52, No. 2 (Jun., 1980), pp. 226-252 Published by: The University of Chicago Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1878229
  6. Kornberg, Jacques (December 1, 1993). Theodor Herzl: From Assimilation to Zionism. Jewish Literature and Culture. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press. pp. 193–194. ISBN 978-0-253-33203-5. http://books.google.com/?id=31LMY9S8IBIC&pg=PA98&lpg=PA98&dq=%22Karl+Lueger%22+herzl&q=%22Karl%20Lueger%22%20herzl. Retrieved 2009-08-08. ""Thus, for the time being, antisemitism is alien to the French people, and they are unable to comprehend it...
    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."
     
  7. Herzl, Der Judenstaat, cited by C.D. Smith, Palestine and the Arab-Israeli Conflict, 2001, 4th ed., p. 53
  8. http://jewishmag.com/145mag/herzl_hechler/herzl_hechler.htm
  9. The Diaries of Theodor Herzl, edited by Marvin Lowenthal, Gloucester, Mass., Peter Smith Pub., 1978 pg. 105
  10. London)Daily Mail Friday November 18, 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.
  11. Reuben R Hecht, When the Shofar sounds, 2006, p. 43
  12. http://www.herzl.org/english/timeline.aspx?s=7
  13. http://www.herzl.org/english/timeline.aspx?s=8
  14. Herzl had written in his diary of the necessity for world power recognition. March 11, 1896"
  15. http://jewishmag.com/145mag/herzl_hechler/herzl_hechler.htm
  16. Ginsberg, Michael Peled; Ron, Moshe (June 2004). Shattered Vessels: Memory, Identity, and Creation in the Work of David Shahar. State University of New York Press. ISBN 978-0791459195. http://books.google.com/?id=Ju3K_gXrAF8C&pg=PA75&lpg=PA75&dq=mahanayim+house+frutiger+jerusalem&q=mahanayim%20house%20frutiger%20jerusalem. 
  17. Kaiser Wilhelm II had assured Herzl of his support for the Jewish protectorate under Germany when they had met privately in Constantinople a week earlier. By the time of their public meetings at Mikveh Israel and Jerusalem, the Kaiser had changed his mind. Herzl had thought he had failed. In the eyes of public opinion he had not.
  18. London)Daily Mail Friday November 18, 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.
  19. Catholicism, France and Zionism: 1895-1904
  20. Elon, Amos (1975). Herzl, p.400-1, New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston. ISBN 978-0-03-013126-4.
  21. 'Obituary', The Times, Thursday, July 7, 1904; pg. 10; Issue 37440; col B.
  22. Elon, Amos (1975). Herzl, p.402, New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston. ISBN 978-0-03-013126-4.
  23. http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Zionism/herzlex.html
  24. Avineri, Shlomo (September 2, 2009). "Herzl's vision of racism". Haaretz. http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1062723.html. Retrieved 2009-08-08. 
  25. L.C.M. van der Hoeven Leonhard, "Shlomo and David, Palestine, 1907", in From Haven to Conquest, 1971, W. Khalidi (ed.), pp. 118-19.
  26. Oriental Zionism of Arab-born Jews, One thousand years before Theodore Herzl
  27. European Jewish Congress - Serbia
  28. Theodore Herzl - Background
  29. Herzl, Theodor (January 1898). "An Autobiography". London Jewish Chronicle: 20. http://archive.thejc.com/search/pages.jsp?issue=JANUARY%2014%201898. Retrieved 2008-03-18. "I was born in 1860 in Budapest in a house next to the synagogue where lately the rabbi denounced me from the pulpit in very sharp terms (...)". 
  30. Herzl, Theodor (1960). "Herzl Speaks: His Mind on Issues, Events and Men". Herzl Institute Pamphlet (New York: The Herzl Press) 16. http://www.hagshama.org.il/en/resources/view.asp?id=1634. "I went...to the synagogue [in Paris] and found the services once again solemn and moving. Much reminded me of my youth and the Tabakgasse synagogue in Pest.". 
  31. Theodor Herzl on WowEssays.com
  32. Elon, Amos (1975). Herzl, p.403, New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston. ISBN 978-0-03-013126-4.
  33. 33.0 33.1 Crash Course in Jewish History Part 63 - Modern Zionism
  34. Herzl's children to be disinterred on Tuesday in Bordeaux, France http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/764120.html
  35. Fulfilling Historical Justice: Herzl's Children Come Home http://www.jewishagency.org/JewishAgency/English/Home/About/Chairman/Archive/2006/sep25.htm
  36. Zionist Archives letters of Richard Neumann
  37. Airstop in Palestine, by Stephen Norman, http://www.azure.org.il/article.php?id=40
  38. Central Zionist Archives -extensive documentary exchange between Lauterbach and Norman 1936-1946
  39. Central Zionist Archives, Jerusalem, Papers of Stephen Norman, July 2, 1946, letter to Mrs. Stybovitz-Kahn
  40. Brodetsky was Chaim Weizman's principle ally and supporter in Britain. The editor, Dr. H. Rosenblum, of "Haboker", a Tel Aviv daily that later became Yediot Aharonot, noted in late 1945,that Dr. Weizmann deeply resented the sudden intrusion and reception of Norman when he arrived in Britain. Stephen spoke to the Zionist conference in London. Haboker reported, "Somehting similar happened at the Zionist conference in London. The Chariman 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 a absolutely dry and official way. It was felt that the chairman looked for - and found - some stylistic formula which would satify the visitor without appearing too cordial to anybody among the audience. In spite of that there was a great thrill in the hall when Mr. Norman mounted on the platform of the praesidium. At the moment, Dr. Weizmann turned his back on the speaker and reamined in this bodily and mental attitude until the guest had finished his speech." (From Haboker 10-26-1945. Document amongst the papers of Stephen Norman at the Central Zionist Archives in Jersualem.) The 1945 article went on to note that Norman was snubbed by Weizmann and by some in Palestine during his visit because of ego, jealosy, vanity and their own personal ambitions.
  41. Central Zionist Archives, Jerusalem, August, 1946,
  42. "These Children Bore the Mark of Freedom, by Jerry Klinger, Theodor Herzl Foundation, in Midtstream, A Bi-Monthly Jewish Review, May/June 2007, pages 21-24, ISSN 0026-332X
  43. http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/931424.html Theodor Herzl's only grandson reinterred in J'lem cemetery, Haaretz Dec.6, 2007
  44. Washington Jewish Week, June 27, 2007, "Zionist set to come 'home' Herzl's grandson slated to be reburied in Israel", by Richard Greenberg
  45. "A Zionist who deserves to come home", by Jerry Klinger, Jerusalem Post, Feb. 12, 2003. Crash Course in Jewish History Part 63 - Modern Zionism at www.aish.com
  46. Guttman, Nathan (August 29, 2007). "Jerusalem Plans a Hero's Burial to Long Deceased Grandson of Herzl". Jewish Daily Forward. http://www.forward.com/articles/11507. 
  47. http://www.jewish-american-society-for-historic-preservation.org/thelastherzl.html
  48. "Theodor Herzl 2004". The Department for Jewish Zionist Education. http://www.jafi.org.il/education/herzl/bibliography.html#1. Retrieved 2009-08-08. 
  49. 49.0 49.1 Balsam, Mashav. "Theodor Herzl: From the Theatre Stage to The Stage of Life". All About Jewish Theatre. http://www.jewish-theatre.com/visitor/article_display.aspx?articleID=2033. Retrieved 2009-08-08. 

Further reading

Vital, David (April 1980). The Origins of Zionism (Paperback ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780198274391. http://books.google.com/?id=4XV9tgWpPt8C&pg=PA254&lpg=PA254&dq=%22Karl+Lueger%22+herzl&q=%22Karl%20Lueger%22%20herzl. Retrieved 2009-08-08. 

Primary sources

External links