(Aug 29) First Zionist Congress, Basel, Switzerland.
Presided over by Theodor Herzl…and by the above–noted Nathan Birnbaum.
The major achievements of the Congress were:
- its formulation of the Zionist platform, known as the “Basel Program”
- the founding of the World Zionist Organization
- the adoption of the Hatikvah as the anthem of the movement
In response to the Dreyfus Affair, Herzl had written Der Judenstaat (The Jewish State). When it was published in English in 1896 (a year before the big congress), he became the leading spokesman for Zionism. Herzl was a formidable force on the international stage, adroitly advancing the Zionism concept via conferences, books and a personal international campaign. Herzl later wrote Altneuland, which translates to Old–New Land (1902), which outlined Herzl’s vision for a Jewish state in Palestine.
Born in Budapest, Hungary in 1860, Herzl died in Austria at age 44 in 1904. His will stipulated that he wished to be buried in a vault next to his father at the family plot (in Austria) “and to lie there till the Jewish people shall take my remains to Palestine.” In 1949, one year into the new Jewish State, and 45 years after Herzl’s death, the people of Israel did just that: They moved his remains to Jerusalem where they named the entire extraordinary mountain cemetery in his honor: Har Herzl (The Mountain of Herzl)—Israel’s “Arlington cemetery,” where its war dead lie in rest with exquisite honor on a mountain overlooking Judea.