Herzl selection

a tumult ensued in the cemetery; too many had suddenly stormed to his coffin, crying,

sobbing, screaming in a wild explosion of despair. It was almost a riot, a fury. All

order was overturned through a sort of elemental ecstatic mourning such as I have

never seen before or since at a funeral. And it was this gigantic outpouring of grief

from the depths of millions of souls that caused me to realize for the first time how

much passion and hope this lone and lonesome man had borne into the world through

the power or a single idea. 1

So wrote an observer about the funeral of Theodor Herzl, the founder of political

Zionism. Born in Budapest, Hungary, part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Herzl had a

talent for writing and became the Paris correspondent for an Austrian newspaper. Already

concerned about the rise of anti-Semitism in Austria, Herzl reported on the Dreyfus

Affair, which began in 1894. 2 Captain Alfred Dreyfus was a Jewish officer in the French

army who was unjustly accused and convicted of giving military secrets to Germany. The

verbal and physical assaults on Jews that occurred during the affair intensified Herzl’s

search for a solution to the prejudice and persecution Jews faced in Europe. Influenced by

the nationalism of the age. he proposed that Jews migrate to establish their own state

outside of Europe in his 1896 The Jewish State. The state would provide them with a safe

haven. Herzl envisaged the creation of a Society of Jews that would raise funds and gain

the diplomatic support of the Great Powers for the creation of the Jewish state. Herzl’s

ideas were greeted with skepticism in some quarters and with opposition in others such as

among Jews who favored assimilation. On the other hand, other groups such as the

Lovers of Zion in Russia and millenarian Christian evangelicals supported political

Zionism. The latter offered hope to Russian Jews who endured pogroms that destroyed

Jewish lives and property and who faced job and residential discrimination.

Herzl helped to organize and presided over the First Zionist Congress. It met in Basle,

Switzerland, in January 1897. The delegates endorsed the Basle Program, which

contained Herzl’s ideas; and the congress established the Zionist Organization. Herzl,

therefore, also played an important role in the organization of the Zionist movement. He,

moreover, helped to establish contacts within the British government that would

eventually lead to Britain’s formal support for a Jewish homeland in Palestine after his

death. After the failure of his diplomatic overtures to the Ottoman Empire, which ruled

Palestine, and to Germany, Herzl focused his efforts on Britain in 1902-4. He was

somewhat flexible as to the location of a Jewish state, though he preferred Palestine

because of its historical and religious significance to the Jewish people. When, however,

Joseph Chamberlain suggested the possibility of Egypt as an area for Jewish settlement,

Herzl smiled and replied: No, we will not go to Egypt. We have been there.” 3 On the

other hand, the Zionist leader was willing to entertain the possibility of British Kenya as

an area for Jewish colonization, but only as a stepping stone to Palestine. The British

1 Howard M. Sachar, A History of Israel: From the Rise of Zionism to Our Time (New York: Alfred A.

Knopf, 1976), pp. 63-64. 2 Jacques Kornberg points out that it was rising anti-Semitism in Austria that first led Herzl to seek a

solution to the Jewish plight. See his Theodor Herzl: From Assimilation to Zionism (Bloomington and

Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1993), p. 2., 3 Sachar, A History of Israel, p. 54.

themselves grew cooler towards this idea. Russian Jews in particular insisted that there

could be no Zionism without Zion and that Palestine should be the Jewish homeland.

Herzl died from a heart attack in 1904, but the British gave formal diplomatic support for

a Jewish homeland in Palestine through the Balfour Declaration of November 1917.

Britain gained control over Palestine as a mandate under League of Nations supervision

after WWI and so was able to give effect to its promise. The following selection is taken

from Herzl’s The Jewish State. 4 .

1. Introduction

The Jewish Question still exists. It would be foolish to deny it. It is a remnant of the

Middle Ages, which civilized nations do not even yet seem able to shake off, try as they

will. They certainly showed a generous desire to do so when they emancipated us. The

Jewish Question exists wherever Jews live in perceptible numbers. Wherever it does not

exist, it is carried by Jews in the course of their migrations. We naturally move to those

places where we are not persecuted, and there our presence produces persecution. This is

the case in every country, and will remain so, even in those highly civilized countries─

for instance, France─until the Jewish question finds a solution on a political basis. The

unfortunate Jews are now carrying the seeds of Anti-Semitism into England; they have

already introduced it into America.

We are a people─one people.

We have honestly endeavored everywhere to merge ourselves in the social life of

surrounding and to preserve the faith of our fathers. We are not permitted to do so. In

vain are we loyal patriots, our loyalty in some places running to extremes; in vain do we

make the same sacrifices of life and property as our fellow-citizens; in vain do we strive

to increase the fame of our native land in science and art, or her wealth by trade and

commerce. In countries where we have lived for centuries we are still cried down as

strangers, and often by those whose ancestors were not yet domiciled in the land where

Jews had already had experience of suffering. The majority may decide which are the

strangers; for this, as indeed every point which arises in the relations between nations, is

a question of might. I do not here surrender any portion of our prescriptive right, when I

make this statement merely in my own name as an individual. In the world as it now is

and for an indefinite period wilt probably remain, might precedes right. It is useless,

therefore, for us to be loyal patriots, as were the Huguenots, who were forced to emigrate.

If we were left in peace. …

But I think we shall not be left in peace.

4 Theodor Herzl, The Jewish State (American Zionist Emergency Council, 1946 ed.), translated from the

German by Sylvie D’Avigdor, http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Zionism/herzl/2d.html

2. The Jewish Question

No one can deny the gravity of the situation of the Jews. Wherever they live in

perceptible numbers, they are more or less persecuted. Their equality before the law,

granted by statute, has become practically a dead letter. They are debarred from filling

even moderately high positions, either in the army, or in any public or private capacity.

And attempts are made to thrust them out of business also: “Don’t buy from Jews!”

Attacks in Parliaments, in assemblies, in the press, in the pulpit, in the street, on

journeys─for example, their exclusion from certain hotels─even in places of recreation,

become daily more numerous. The forms of persecution varying according to the

countries and social circles in which they occur. In Russia, imposts are levied on Jewish

villages; in Rumania, a few persons are put to death; in Germany, they get a good beating

occasionally; in Austria, Anti-Semites exercise terrorism over all public life; in Algeria,

there are traveling agitators; in Paris, the Jews are shut out of the so-called best social

circles and excluded from clubs. Shades of anti-Jewish feeling are innumerable. But this

is not to be an attempt to make out a doleful category of Jewish hardships.

I do not intend to arouse sympathetic emotions on our behalf. That would be foolish,

futile, and undignified proceeding. I shall content myself with putting the following

questions to the Jews: Is it not true that, in countries where we live in perceptible

numbers, the position of Jewish lawyers, doctors, technicians, teachers, and employees of

all descriptions becomes daily more intolerable? Is it not true, that the Jewish middle

classes are seriously threatened? Is it not true, that our poor endure greater sufferings than

any other proletariat? I think that this external pressure makes itself felt everywhere. In

our economically upper classes it causes discomfort, in our middle classes continual and

grave anxieties, in our lower classes absolute despair.

Everything tends, in fact, to one and the same conclusion, which is clearly enunciated in

the classic Berlin phrase: “Juden Raus” (Out with the Jews!)

THE PLAN

The whole plan is in its essence perfectly simple, as it must necessarily be if it is to come

within the comprehension of all.

Let the sovereignty be granted us over a portion of the globe large enough to satisfy the

rightful requirements of a nation; the rest we shall manage for ourselves.

The creation of a new State is neither ridiculous nor impossible. We shall have in our day

witnessed the process in connection with nations which were not largely members of the

middle class, but poorer, less educated, and consequently weaker than ourselves. The

Governments of all countries scourged by Anti-Semitism will be keenly interested in

assisting us to obtain the sovereignty we want.

The plan, simple in design, but complicated in execution, will be carried out by two

agencies: The Society of Jews and the Jewish Company. 5

The Society of Jews will do the preparatory work in the domain of science and politics,

which the Jewish Company will afterwards apply practically.

The Jewish Company will be the liquidating agent of the business interests of departing

Jews, and will organize commerce and trade in the new country.

We must not imagine the departure of the Jews to be a sudden one. It will be gradual,

continuous, and will cover many decades. The poorest will go first to cultivate the soil. In

accordance with a preconceived plan, they will construct roads, bridges, railways and

telegraph installations; regulate rivers; and build their own dwellings; their labor will

create trade, trade will create markets and markets will attract new settlers, for every man

will go voluntarily, at his own expense and his own risk. The labor expended on the land

will enhance its value, and Jews will soon perceive that a new and permanent sphere of

operation is opening here for that spirit of enterprise which has heretofore met only with

hatred and obloquy.

PALESTINE OR ARGENTINE?

Shall we choose Palestine or Argentine? We shall take what is given us, and what is

selected by Jewish public opinion. The Society will determine both these points.

Argentine is one of the most fertile countries in the world, extends over a vast area, has a

sparse population and a mild climate. The Argentine Republic would derive considerable

profit from the cession of a portion of its territory to us. The present infiltration of Jews

has certainly produced some discontent, and it would be necessary to enlighten the

Republic on the intrinsic difference of our new movement.

Palestine is our ever-memorable historic home. The very name of Palestine would attract

our people with a force of marvelous potency. If His Majesty the Sultan were to give us

Palestine, we could in return undertake the whole finances of Turkey. We should there

form a portion of a rampart of Europe against Asia, an outpost of civilization as opposed

to barbarism. We should as a neutral State remain in contact with Europe, which would

have to guarantee our existence. The sanctuaries of Christendom would be safeguarded

by assigning to them an extra-territorial status such as is well-known to the law of

nations. We should form a guard of honor about these sanctuaries, answering for the

fulfillment of this duty with our existence. This guard of honor would be the great symbol

of the solution of the Jewish question after eighteen centuries of Jewish suffering.

3. The Jewish Company

OUTLINES

5 These became known as the Zionist Organization/Jewish Agency and Jewish National Fund respectively.

The Jewish Company is partly modeled on the lines of a great land-acquisition company.

It might be called a Jewish Chartered Company, though it cannot exercise sovereign

power, and has other than purely colonial tasks.

The Jewish Company is an organization with a transitional character. It is strictly a

business undertaking, and must be carefully distinguished from the Society of Jews.

The Jewish Company will first of all convert into cash all vested interests left by

departing Jews. The method adopted will prevent the occurrences of crises, secure every

man’s property, and facilitate that inner migration of Christian citizens which has already

been indicated.

PURCHASE OF LAND

The land which the Society of Jews will have secured by international law must, of

course, be privately acquired. Provisions made by individuals for their own settlement do

not come within the province of this general account. But the Company will require large

areas for its own needs and ours, and these it must secure by centralized purchase. It will

negotiate principally for the acquisition of fiscal domains, with the great object of taking

possession of this land “over there” without paying a price too high, in the same way as it

sells here without accepting one too low. A forcing of prices is not to be considered,

because the value of the land will be created by the Company through its organizing the

settlement in conjunction with the supervising Society of Jews. The latter will see to it

that the enterprise does not become a Panama, but a Suez. 6

4. Local Groups

THE PHENOMENON OF MULTITUDES

I do not want to hurt anyone’s religious sensibility by words which might be wrongly

interpreted.

I shall merely refer quite briefly to the Mohammedan pilgrimages to Mecca, the Catholic

pilgrimages to Lourdes, and to many other spots whence men return comforted by their

faith, and to the holy Hock at Trier. Thus we shall also create a center for the deep

religious needs of our people. Our ministers will understand us first, and will be with us

in this.

We shall let every man find salvation “over there” in his own peculiar way. Above and

before all we shall make room for the immortal band of our Freethinkers, who are

continually making new conquests for humanity.

6 The French entrepreneur Ferdinand de Lesseps had been successful in building the Suez Canal, but failed

in the attempt to build a canal through Panama.

5. Society of Jews and the Jewish State

THE GESTOR OF THE JEWS

Externally, the Society will attempt, as I explained before in the general part, to be

acknowledged as a State-forming power. The free assent of many Jews will confer on it

the requisite authority in its relations with Governments.

Internally, that is to say, in its relations with the Jewish people, the Society will create all

the first indispensable institutions; it will be the nucleus out of which the public

institutions of the Jewish state will later be developed.

CONSTITUTION

Politics must take shape in the upper strata and work downwards. But no member of the

Jewish State will be oppressed, every man will be able and will wish to rise in it. Thus a

great upward tendency will pass through our people; every individual by trying to raise

himself, raising also the whole body of citizens. The ascent will take a normal form,

useful to the State and serviceable to the National idea.

Here I incline to an aristocratic republic. This would satisfy the ambitious spirit of our

people, which has now degenerated into petty vanity. Many of the institutions of Venice

pass through my mind; but all that which caused the ruin of Venice must be carefully

avoided. We shall learn from the historic mistakes of others, in the same way as we learn

from our own; for we are a modern nation, and wish to be the most modern in the world.

Our people, who are receiving the new country from the Society, will also accept the new

constitution it offers them. Should any opposition manifest itself, the Society will

suppress it. The Society cannot permit the exercise of its functions to be interpreted by

short-sighted or ill-disposed individuals.

LANGUAGE

It might be suggested that our want of a common language would present difficulties. We

cannot converse with one another in Hebrew. Who amongst us has sufficient

acquaintance with Hebrew to ask for a railway ticket in that language! Such a thing

cannot be done. Yet the difficulty is very easily circumvented. Every man can preserve

the language in which his thoughts are at home. Switzerland affords a conclusive proof of

the possibility of a federation of tongues. We shall remain in the new country what we

are here, and we shall never cease to cherish with sadness the memory of the native land

out of which we have been driven.

We shall give up using those miserable stunted jargons, those Ghetto languages which we

still employ, for these were the stealthy tongues of prisoners. Our national teachers will

give due attention to this matter; and the language which proves itself to be of greatest

utility for general intercourse will be adopted without compulsion as our national tongue.

Our community of race is peculiar and unique, for we are bound together only by the

faith of our fathers.

Questions

1. What was the situation of Jews in Europe as described by Herzl?

2. What does Herzl advocate as the solution to the Jewish predicament? What means

should be used to implement the solution?

3. What does Herzl view as the possible locations for a Jewish state, and which does he

seem to prefer? Why? What does he think the Jewish state should be like in terms of

government, language, and religion?