“Palestine is our unforgettable historic homeland ...”
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Theodor Herzl
Theodor Herzl was a Hungarian Jewish journalist and lawyer who was the father of modern political Zionism. Herzl formed the Zionist Organization and promoted Jewish immigration to Palestine, which, in the late 19th century was part of the Ottoman Empire, in an effort to form a Jewish state. Due to his Zionist work, he is known in Hebrew as Chozeh HaMedinah, lit. 'Visionary of the State'. He is spe…
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culture · Father of modern political Zionism (1860–1904) · journalist · lawyer · writer · politician · playwright · literary critic · critic · also Theodor Herzl, Tivadar Herzl, Benjamin Ze’ev Herzl, Herzl
Born 2 May 1860 · Died 3 July 1904 · Q44003
49 published statements · 0 followers
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2026· 13 entries
“The idea I have developed in this pamphlet is an ancient one: It is the restoration of the Jewish State ...”
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“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 ...”
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“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 ...”
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“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 ...”
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“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 ...”
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“Wherever we remain politically secure for any length of time, we assimilate. I think this is not praiseworthy ...”
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“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.”
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“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.”
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“Greet Palestine for me. I gave my heart”
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“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.”
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The Jerusalem Post: Herzl grandparents' return to Mount Herzl reveals Zionism's roots through generations - editorial
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The Jerusalem Post: Is Israel the Jewish state that Theodor Herzl dreamed of? – opinion
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2024· 1 entry
Full Fact rated the claim “An image shows Donald Trump keeps a picture of Theodor Herzl on display in his office.” The picture was taken in the New York Times offices in 2016..
Shown as reported and rated by a fact checker, not as an established fact.
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2023· 2 entries
The Times of Israel: Theodor Herzl—Visionary of the State in Poem and Song
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Wall Street Journal: When Theodor Herzl Met the Pope
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2012· 1 entry
The Stephen Norman garden on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem—the only memorial in the world to a Herzl other than Theodor Herzl—was dedicated on 2 May 2012 by the Jerusalem Foundation and the Jewish American Society for Historic Preservation.
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2006· 1 entry
The remains of Paulina and Hans were moved from Bordeaux, France, and reburied not far from their father on Mt
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1990· 3 entries
“Khaloymes/Dreams in Progress: Culture, Politics, and Jewish Identity”
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“s rights, in equality and religious tolerance... that being”
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“In Bazel I established the Jewish state”
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1949· 2 entries
His remains were taken to Israel and reinterred on Mount Herzl
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And buried on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem, which was named after him
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1935· 1 entry
To the Viennese Zionists and the Zionist Executive in Israel based there
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1927· 1 entry
His former secretary and collaborator, Jacob de Haas published a well-received two-volume biography, Theodor Herzl, a biographical study
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1918· 1 entry
His tombstone read simply, 'Stephen Theodore Norman, Captain Royal Artillery British Army, Grandson of Theodor Herzl, 21 April 1918 – 26 November 1946.' Norman was the only descendant of Herzl to have been a Zionist, been to Palestine and openly stated his desire to return.
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1907· 3 entries
Julie died in 1907, 3 years after Herzl, aged 39.
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Was cremated, and her ashes were lost by accident
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3 years after Herzl, aged 39
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1905· 1 entry
The Seventh Zionist Congress, after investigations, decided to decline the British offer and firmly committed itself to a Jewish homeland in Palestine
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1904· 3 entries
Died 1904-07-03.
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“Originally in German: Wenn ihr wollt, ist es kein Märchen... which was intended to have the double meaning of a strong will shall eventually be realized, and as part of a paragraph ending as a postfix to the book, that this book perhaps will be seen as a true story, but even if not...”
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At the age of 44, and was buried in Vienna
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1903· 3 entries
Following Kishinev pogrom, Herzl visited Saint Petersburg and was received by Sergei Witte, then finance minister, and Viacheslav Plehve, minister of the interior, the latter placing on record the attitude of his governm
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Herzl attempted to obtain support for the Jewish homeland from Pope Pius X, an idea broached at the Sixth Zionist Congress
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Herzl presented the Uganda Scheme, endorsed by Colonial Secretary Joseph Chamberlain on behalf of the British government
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1902· 1 entry
Wrote a letter to Cecil Rhodes, attempting to get his support for the Jewish state
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1899· 1 entry
After Herzl had established in Austria in 1897
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1898· 1 entry
Began a series of diplomatic initiatives to build support for a Jewish country
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1897· 3 entries
At considerable personal expense, he founded the Zionist newspaper Die Welt in Vienna, Austria-Hungary, and planned the First Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland
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Career landmark: chairperson (1897–1904).
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Herzl convened the First Zionist Congress at the Stadtcasino in Basel, Switzerland, and was elected president of the Zionist Organization
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1896· 1 entry
Herzl published the pamphlet Der Judenstaat, in which he elaborated his visions of a Jewish homeland
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1895· 2 entries
That seems to have had a greater effect on Herzl, before the pro-Dreyfus campaign had fully emerged
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“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”
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1891· 1 entry
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 Edmo
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1880· 1 entry
One of his biographers suggests that Herzl infected his wife with gonorrhea which he contracted in 1880.
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1878· 1 entry
After Pauline's death, the Herzl family moved to Vienna, then serving as the other capital of Austria-Hungary, where they lived in the 9th district, known as Alsergrund
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1860· 1 entry
Born 1860-05-02.
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