The First Zionist Congress

Michael J. Reimer

Description

Finalist for the 2019 Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Award in the History category

The First Zionist Congress, held in Basel, Switzerland, in August 1897, was arguably the most significant Jewish assembly since antiquity. Its delegates surveyed the situation of Jews at the end of the nineteenth century, analyzed cultural and economic issues facing them, defined the program of Zionism, created an organization for planning and decision-making, and coalesced in camaraderie and shared aspiration. Though Zionism experienced multiple conflicts and reversals, the Congress's goal was ultimately realized in the establishment of Jewish sovereignty in Palestine—the State of Israel—in 1948. As Theodor Herzl, the Congress's principal organizer, declared: "At Basel I founded the Jewish state."

This volume presents, for the first time, a complete translation of the German proceedings into English. Michael J. Reimer's accessible translation includes explanatory annotations and a glossary of key terms, events, and personalities. A detailed introduction situates the First Zionist Congress in historical context and provides a summary of each day's events. The Congress's debates supply a case study in the history of nationalism: they feature imagery and tropes used by nationalists all over Europe, while appealing to the distinctive heritage of Judaism. The proceedings are also important for what they say—and omit—about the Ottoman state that ruled Palestine as well as the Palestinian Arab people living there. This is a foundational primary source in modern Jewish history.
List of Figures and Tables
Acknowledgments

Introduction

The First Zionist Congress and Jewish History
A Critical Summary of the Proceedings
The Need for an English Translation of the Proceedings

The Proceedings

Day One of the Proceedings, August 29, 1897
Morning Session
Afternoon Session

Day Two of the Proceedings, August 30, 1897
Morning Session
Afternoon Session

Day Three of the Proceedings, August 31, 1897
Morning Session
Afternoon Session
Evening Session

Appendix
Notes
Glossary
Bibliography
Index

Sujets

• Israël
• History of the Middle East
• Israel
• 19th century

Informations

• Publié par: State University of New York Press
• Date de parution: 28 février 2019
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781438473147
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

THE FIRST ZIONIST CONGRESS
The First Zionist Congress
An Annotated Translation of the Proceedings
M ICHAEL J. R EIMER
Cover image: The Zionist Congress in session, 1897 or 1898. Wikimedia Commons/National Photo Collection of Israel.
Published by State University of New York Press, Albany
© 2019 State University of New York
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.
For information, contact State University of New York Press, Albany, NY
www.sunypress.edu
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Reimer, Michael J., translator.
Title: The first Zionist Congress : an annotated translation of the proceedings / translated and with an introduction by Michael J. Reimer.
Description: Albany, New York : State University of New York, [2019] | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018015533 | ISBN 9781438473130 (hardcover : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781438473147 (e-book)
Subjects: LCSH: Zionist Congress (1st : 1897 : Basel, Switzerland)
Classification: LCC DS149 .F4955 2019 | DDC 320.54095694—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018015533
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CONTENTS
List of Figures and Tables
Acknowledgments
Introduction
The First Zionist Congress and Jewish History
A Critical Summary of the Proceedings
The Need for an English Translation of the Proceedings
The Proceedings
Day One of the Proceedings, August 29, 1897
Morning Session
Afternoon Session
Day Two of the Proceedings, August 30, 1897
Morning Session
Afternoon Session
Day Three of the Proceedings, August 31, 1897
Morning Session
Afternoon Session
Evening Session
Appendix
Notes
Glossary
Bibliography
Index
LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES
FIGURES I.1. “Unser Jahrhundert,” Allgemeine Zeitung des Judenthums , September 13, 1870. I.2. Jaffa, port of entry for most European immigrants to Palestine, 1890s. I.3. Jewish farmers in Palestine, 1890s. I.4. Baron Edmond de Rothschild, ca. 1905. I.5. Inaugural issue of the Zionist organ, Die Welt. I.6. Herzl on balcony at Hotel Drei Könige during the Zionist Congress. I.7. The Zionist Congress in session, 1897 or 1898. I.8. Herzl and delegates on the floor of the Congress, in Basel’s Stadtcasino. I.9. Max Nordau, keynote speaker at the Zionist Congress. I.10. Title page of the Congress’s published proceedings, Vienna, 1898. I.11. Contents of the Congress’s published proceedings, Vienna, 1898.
TABLES I.1. Provenance of participants at the First Zionist Congress, Basel, 1897. 1.1. Estimates of the Jewish population, Britain and Ireland, 1897. 1.2. Provenance of Jews in Great Britain, ca. 1897. 1.3. Enrollments and revenues of Jewish schools in the UK, ca. 1897. 2.1. M. Moses’s scheme to fund colonization through cooperative banks. 3.1. Area and population of Jewish agricultural colonies in Palestine, ca. 1897. 3.2. Major exports and imports of Jaffa, 1895.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I have worked on this translation for eight years and have accumulated debts of gratitude to many persons. I extend my appreciation to them all, with sincere apologies to those not mentioned here by name.
I am thankful to God that I have had the health and resources necessary to bring this project to completion.
When I began my work, Yoav Alon supplied me with a copy of the proceedings, as well as giving encouragement and counsel in my teaching and research on Zionism. A summer grant from the Research Grants program of the American University in Cairo (AUC) allowed me to launch this work by employing Heba Khalil as a research assistant. By working on preliminary translations of some important speeches, and by her enthusiasm, she contributed substantively and inspirationally to the present work. Malak Makar reviewed several sections of the translation, alerting me to mistakes in verb tenses. Nareman Amin compiled data vital to making the glossary. I am grateful to all of them for their dedicated labors.
The aforenamed students took a course titled “Zionism and Modern Judaism.” The course was designed by my colleague, Mark Sedgwick; I inherited it from him when he left AUC. Teaching the course led to the discovery that the 1897 Congress proceedings had never been translated into English. I register here my respect and appreciation for Mark and for the many students who have taken the course, whose questions and comments have made me a better scholar and also made me believe that this work was worth doing. Also, abundant thanks go to all my department colleagues, but most of all to our marvelous staff, Sherine Emad and Nevien Samir, for their help with a variety of special tasks related to this work, which they have carried out cheerfully, in addition to their normal duties.
I also wish to thank AUC’s Faculty Grants Program for additional support of this project, through the approval of a sabbatical leave in 2012 and a grant in 2018 to help with the cost of indexing.
Another group of persons I can acknowledge only by listing their online names (even this list is partial): dude, noli, Hecuba-UK, Werner, igm, Kai, Reinhard W., CD (DE), MiMo, Philipp, Raudona, Braunbärin, Gibson, no me bré, Selima, manni3, Bob C., wor, HappyWarrior, stonehenge, SD3, Dave7, Erste_Schicht, erasmus, captain flint, Teddy-Toe, her man, AndreasS, Qual der Wal, cassandra, Martin--cal, mad, Nicki (DE), wupperwolf, codero, penguin, Claus, Yora Unfug, Rodos, mikefm, hm--us, Todd, macpet, wienergriessler, mbshu, hereami, Himalia, ludicrous, H.B., Spinatwachtel, California81, Woody 1, Mercury3, Mr Chekov (DE), tigger, isabelll, judex, Andreas_10, Helmi (U.S.), C3PO. They are registered users of the German-English translation forum maintained by LEO ( www.leo.org , an online service of LEO GmbH). I submitted hundreds of translation problems to LEO, and I received thoughtful responses from these and other contributors: I express here my sincere appreciation for their guidance. I could not have done this work without the cadre of competent translators regularly answering questions within the LEO forums. Scholars wishing to engage the original text and controversies over the best way to translate certain passages, are advised to consult the archived queries.
Ashby Locke, Assistant University Archivist at George Washington University Library, supplied me with a copy of an early English translation of selected speeches given at the Congress, published by The Jewish Chronicle of London and then by Philip Cowen of New York. While this work could not form the basis of the present translation on account of its many deficiencies, access to this text was essential as a point of departure. Of course, its rendering of the German was taken into account where appropriate.
Michael Berkowitz, of University College London, gave encouragement to the present project, answered questions by correspondence, and affirmed the value of this project on several occasions. I thank him for his reassurance that the work was moving on the right track. Mark Muelhauesler, a gifted member of AUC’s superb library staff, was helpful in answering questions, as one who moves effortlessly between German and English, among many other languages. He assisted me by obtaining obscure materials and, in particular, overseeing the OCRing of the existing online text, to make it searchable; thanks go to AUC’s computer services unit, UACT, for its help in this labor as well. German-speaking colleagues at AUC helped in discussions of the connotations of various expressions; these included Mate Tokić, Julia Seibert, Nicholas Hopkins, and Steffen Stelzer. Thanks to Natalia Suit for help with the Polish and Russian. Thanks also to Dr. Lyumir Georgiev, the head of the Manuscript, Documentary, and Heritage Division, Bulgarian National Library, for help with several Bulgarian expressions and newspaper titles. David Speicher, my colleague in AUC’s History Department, assisted by formatting the tables and suggesting changes while proofing and editing several parts of this work. Donald Reid and Steven Glazer commented critically on the introduction; I have benefitted from Professor Glazer’s insights in other ways as well, indicated in the Notes; and I am thankful for our longstanding friendship.
A section of a work that appeared previously has been reused: “ ‘The good Dr Lippe’ and Herzl in Basel, 1897: A translation and analysis of the Zionist Congress’s opening speech,” Journal of Israeli History 34 (2015):1, 1–21. Reuse is by permission of Taylor Francis (the journal website is http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/fjih20 ). I wish also to express my appreciation to: the Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies, University of Pennsylvania, for several photographs from the Lenkin Family Collection, with permission for their reproduction herein; and the Trustees of the Rothschild Archive, London, for a photograph of Baron Edmond de Rothschild, with permission for its reproduction.
My wife Marty’s occasional outbursts in pseudo-German kept me in good humor while absorbed in translation. I owe to her my sanity, among many other blessings! Our grown children, Luke, Rachel, and Marie, and their wonderful spouses, listened patiently to answers to the obligatory question, “How is your translation going?” Their interest and encouragement have sustained me. My interest in German w