Theodor Herzl: Political Activity and Achievements
2004; Indiana University Press; Volume: 9; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês
10.2979/isr.2004.9.3.46
ISSN1527-201X
Autores ResumoIT WAS ANTI-SEMITISM THAT MADE Herzl and Max Nordau, his close collaborator, conscious Jews.2 Both were steeped in European culture, but the resurgence of modern anti-Semitism wounded their dignity. Herzl was particularly stirred by Eugen Diihring's book Die Judenfrage als Frage des Rassencharakters und seiner Schddlichkeitfiir Existenz und Kultur des Volkes (The Problem as a Problem of Race and the Harm it is Causing to the Existence and to the Culture of the People). As the years went by, the feeling of disenchantment grew stronger, but it was not until the Dreyfus trial in 1894 that Herzl's hopes of emancipation were irreparably shattered. He realized that the civilized nations could not cope with the Jewish Question, which was a legacy from the Middle Ages. They have tried it through emancipation, but it came too late. The belief of the doctrinaire libertarians that men can be made equal by publishing an edict was erroneous. The Jews themselves were not yet accustomed to freedom, and the people around them had neither magnanimity nor patience. In those places where the Jews had been liberated, the nations saw only their bad characteristics. Lacking historical perspective, they failed to realize that some of the anti-social qualities they attributed to Jews were the product of oppression in earlier times.3 In vain did Jews endeavor to show their loyalty, sometimes even exaggerated patriotism, toward their countries of domicile. Their sacrifices, their achievements in science, and their contributions to commerce were in vain. The fatherlands in which they had lived for centuries, denounced them as strangers.4 Herzl appreciated that anti-Semitism was a complex phenomenon. In some countries, it did occasionally reveal a religious bias, but its virulent character was primarily a consequence of emancipation. Contrary to the general belief that hostility to the Jews would disappear, Herzl feared that
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