Theodor Herzl Printed Letter Signed.

HERZL, Theodor.

$7,500.00

Item Number: 143208

Printed letter signed by the father of modern Zionism, Theodor Herzl, in the wake of the collapse of Zionist fundraising efforts in Russia. One page, printed, sent from Vienna on December 19, 1903, the letter is in German and translates into English as, “As of around the 23rd of Oct. we have requested that you, in consideration of the current situation in Russia, which for a longer time has made the collection and delivery of the Shekel impossible to us, to compress in the fund-raising of the Shekel in your country as quickly as possible, and to send us the funds raised as soon as possible. As of now our Circulars have not achieved any results; you must have noticed that our funds are nearly exhausted and that the duty of Western comrades becomes – in the breach, which, because of the paralyzed organization of Russia, has come to break – to jump in and act so as not to let our entire apparatus collapse. We request that you therefore, once again, do what is possible to shore up our financial reserves.” Signed at the conclusion by Theodor Herzl, “Herzl” and countersigned by Oser Kokesch, an early Austrian-Jewish supporter of Herzl. As the Paris correspondent for Vienna’s Neue Freie Presse, Herzl was strongly affected by the infamous Dreyfus Affair, the 1894 conviction and exile of an innocent French-Jewish army officer, which Herzl covered for his newspaper. As a firsthand witness to the rise of French anti-Semitism, Herzl wrote The Ghetto, a drama focused on Jewish-Christian relations, and it was during this period that he became committed to the formation of a Jewish state. In 1896, he published his most influential work, Der Judenstaat, a practical outline for the realization of a Jewish homeland, in which Argentina and Palestine were considered as potential locations. In August of 1903, Herzl traveled to Russia to discuss the Interior Minster’s call for the suppression of the Zionist organization and the country’s ongoing and disturbing anti-Semitic pogroms. Herzl managed to win over the minister’s support for Zionism by suggesting that doing so would encourage Jewish emigration from Russia. While in Russia, Herzl was notified of Britain’s consent to the establishment of a Jewish settlement in East Africa. Many of the leading Zionists remained skeptical, however, seeing only the abandonment of the goal of a homeland in Palestine. After long discussions, Herzl was able to claim, on August 26th, a clear victory when Congress voted both to empower an investigating commission to explore the British option and to reaffirm its support for the long-cherished dream of a homeland in Palestine. This fundraising letter was written amidst the challenged facing Russian Jews and the possibilities open to the Zionist movement. In near fine condition.

One of the founding fathers of modern political Zionism, Austro-Hungarian journalist, playwright, political activist, and writer Theodor Herzl formed the World Zionist Organization in 1897 and was elected its first president. Although Herzl died before Israel's establishment, he is known in Hebrew as Chozeh HaMedinah, or Visionary of 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" who gave a concrete, practicable platform and framework to political Zionism.