Trudy Gold
Basel, Herzl and the Jewish State

Trudy Gold - Basel, Herzl and the Jewish State

- Good evening everyone. And what can I say to you all except that Lockdown University is a community. And I know that we are all in our own way grieving at the moment. If any of our people are on from Israel, we extend the hand of love and friendship, and know that you are not alone. We are the eternal people and we will get through this. The price Israel is paying and the price those families paid is beyond bearing. And we are with you on this. And, you know, it’s very ironic because when we plan the programme, and as you know we plan the programme at least two months in advance, we thought we’d look at Switzerland because basically we haven’t. And there’s so much to say, particularly about the Swiss during the Shoah. And my son-in-law, Phil Rubenstein, is a bit of an expert on it, and he was so keen to do it. And I looked at Switzerland and Wendy and I have discussed how much we should deviate from the programme. And I think Wendy’s achieved a wonderful balance by bringing in experts. And actually on Sunday, I am debating what is going on in London and England with the liberal left with my daughter Tanya, who, of course, is a journalist and is up to her neck. She’s in the thick of it, but I suddenly realised when I do Switzerland, I can talk about the first sign is Congress. I can talk about Basel. And I can talk about the establishment of Zionism.

And in a way, I think it’s important to go back to basics. One of the things that has so alarmed me, and I’m sure it’s alarmed many of you, is not just the anti-Semitism, which is pouring out. I can only speak about England. I’m getting emails from all over the world, but I’m only going to speak about England because that’s the country I know. And it’s coming in the main from the liberal left, not the fascist right. I mean, okay, leave them offside because they’re always going to be ghastly, but it’s the liberal left where most of what I call is coming from. And there are some serious questions we have to ask ourselves. You know, at the end of the First World War, Albert Einstein, and sometimes when I’m feeling very miserable, I read some of his statements because he was a truly wonderful man. He actually said, if you lose your childlike love of life, you’ll lose your curiosity. And he looked at the horror of the First World War and he said, I am going to blame those teachers in Germany who for 50 years taught that nationalism chauvinism was right. And the time has come. We have got to stop pussy-footing around. Our own children don’t know that history. Jewish history has to be taught. We also have got to stop being so pussy-footed about the Shoah. Have you any idea how much agony Holocaust survivors are going through at the moment? I have close friends in that community. And it’s heartbreaking because so many of them gave their waking lives post-war to telling their story to make sure it would never happen again. Can you imagine how they’re feeling today?

But what I do know is I am fed up with the Holocaust being labelled with every other genocide in inverted commas. We must always bleed. If we’re human beings we must always bleed for decency and we must bleed when children, innocent people suffer, but we have to tell our story as it is because the game’s over now as far as I’m concerned. And there’s a lot of educating to do, but my only word of comfort, and I’m saying this to myself and I hope it’s happening to quite a few of you. A lot of my non-Jewish friends going back years, people I haven’t heard from, they’ve been in touch with messages of support. William Tyler has been absolutely wonderful through all of this, by the way. He is what I call the decent of England. And he and so many people like him are horrified because they’re attacking us now, but what they’re really attacking is liberal democracy, the right to speak your mind, and all the old-fashioned values that have been, if you like, pushed to one side. Just before I came on air, I received an email from my daughter. There was a group of trans people, gays and lesbians, marching for the rights of the Palestinians in Gaza. If you think what have happened to those people under Hamas, have they any idea about the ideology which they’re dealing with? Hamas is an evil terrorist organisation that is totally committed to the wiping out of the Jewish state. And when those stupid children sing, Palestine will be free from the river to the sea, do they actually know what they are saying? Because that means the eradication of Israel.

And when you say that to the Jewish people, particularly after the massacre that the Israelis have just taken on, I can’t even really bear to think about it. It’s about time to say enough. So that’s my speech for today. I’m sorry, I just felt I had to say something because like many of you we’re isolated, we’re burning up with anger. I went to a rally last night where Howard Jacobson was speaking, and to come together with a group of Jews did actually cheer me up, but having said that, I know we’re all here for each other. So let’s go back to Theodor Herzl because ironically, the man who created political Zionism, he came from that acculturated sophisticated background that so many of us espoused. Now, who was Theodor Herzl? He lived such a short life. He was born in 1860. He was born in Budapest. He came from a very cosmopolitan, wealthy merchant class. They were not particularly religious. In fact, their house is next to, it’s gone now, but his house used to be next to what is the Dohány Street Synagogue, one of the most beautiful synagogues in the world. He was the only son. He had a beloved older sister. He was the only son. He kept a diary. He was over adored. He was a poet. He was a writer. Catastrophe hit his family when he was 20 years old. His beloved sister died. The father was already intending to move to Vienna because Budapest, of course, was the second city of the Habsburg empire. And they intended to go to Vienna for business reasons.

Within a week of her death, they left. And Theodor Herzl goes to the University of Vienna. And what happened to him there? What happened to him in Vienna? He came across the growth of racial anti-Semitism, this sophisticated cosmopolitan character. He actually joined a duelling fraternity at the university. He took the name “Tancred” which, of course, he’s a messianic claimant. It was a novel of the Israelis. We have lots of descriptions of him at the university because Arthur Schnitzler, who knew him well, wrote about him, but this is what he wrote while he was at the university. The only way to solve the Jewish problem is to promote a general improvement of the physical and metaphorical profile of the nation. The cross-breeding of the Western nations with the so-called Oriental on the basis of a common state religion that is the great to be decide solution. You see, on one level, he falls in love with Vienna. Cosmopolitan Vienna at the turn of the century, the art, the literature, the music, it’s the 1880s, but the problem was liberalism. The death knell was already there for liberalism. And what you saw was the rise of extremism. Now, ironically, it was the University of Vienna that was to produce the first student Zionist organisation called Kadimah.

And the word Zionism was invented in 1891. Theodor Herzl is not going to turn to Zionism really until about 1885, 1886. So, basically, there are already young Jews looking at the world in which they live worrying. Now, let’s talk about what Zionism is, because that word is so much used almost as a swear word by the enemies of the Jews. I would suggest to you that Zionism is made up of three components. On one level you have almost that messianic dream, that messianic notion that in the belief system of the Jew is the return to the land. All you have to think of is every Pesach. If you have any religiosity whatsoever, and even if you don’t, many of you will attend a Pesach service. We sit around the table and we say next year in Jerusalem. Those of you who go to synagogue, the ark faces Jerusalem. I can remember when I was in China how bizarre it was to see it in a completely different direction, but facing Jerusalem. So there is this messianic pull. On the other level, it’s an authentic Jewish nationalism, very much on a par with many other nationalisms. Because to go back into Jewish history up until the 1800s nobody would ever inquire of Jews what they were. They were a small percentage of the world. In the main they were a persecuted minority. And then, of course, the ideas of the enlightenment, the French Revolution, said to the Jews of France and then of the West, you are citizens of the countries in which you live of the Jewish religion. Give up your notion of nationhood. And this becomes the huge endeavour of the majority of Western Jews.

Only a small minority from country to country to country, but, boy, did they make an impact on the world. If you think about it, many of the great movements for change came out of the brains of these characters who are plunged into the modern world. The Jews of Eastern Europe another story, living persecuted lives under the czars, still within the religious framework, but it was the rise of modern anti-Semitism. And anti-Semitism is a modern racial term. And it led many Jews to think, well, particularly those living in the West. What we need to do is to think of a new solution. And already when Theodor Hertz is going to erupt on the scene as I said, there are student movements at the university, Kadimah. You have thinkers like Leon Pinsker. He had dreamt for a short period that Russia would change. And when it didn’t, he wrote a pamphlet called “Auto-Emancipation.” And he has this line in it. The Western world suffers from Judeophobia. This was after the pogroms. He was totally disillusioned after the pogroms. It is a psychic aberration. It is a 2,000 year old disease. It is incurable. And that turned characters like him to looking for another solution. And, of course, you were already seeing a certain amount of settlement on the land. And also various groups in Odessa, in Saint Petersburg, people like Ahad Ha'am, Asher Ginsberg, looking at the regeneration of the Jewish people, a cultural renaissance. In Russia, Haskalah turned to Hebrew to resurrecting, if you like, or restoring the Jewish soul. And through nationalism and a dream of Zion.

In the main, the majority of the religious were against it because only the Moshia could beat the people back. What had happened at the time of the destruction of the second temple, because we rose up we were destroyed. So you have, if you like, the Rabbonim had encased the Jews in a rule of law. So the 19th century, the end of the 19th century, huge explosions, all sorts of ideas, modern nationalism, the growth of anti-Semitism, which is based on that theological 2,000 year old hatred that is racial. It didn’t matter whether you were assimilationist, whether you had even converted to Christianity, if you were of Jewish blood, you had to be the enemy. So in Vienna, there was an anti-Semitic mayor called Karl Lueger. Now, Theodor Herzl in Vienna, he went to the opera. He loved Wagner. He mixed with the artists, the writers, and he became a journalist. We know that if you read his own writings, he said it was the Dreyfus case that made him into a Zionist, but in fact, he was already well aware of it because at the University of Vienna. In 1883, Wagner died and there were all sorts of marches to talk about and to pay homage to the German world’s greatest composer, who as you all know was deeply anti-Semitic. The marches became anti-Semitic.

And, Herzl, who belonged to a student fraternity, he went in and he gave up his membership expecting he was popular, expecting them to say, no, no, no, no, but they accepted it and that was one issue. He becomes a journalist. He studied law, he became a journalist. He married. He married a very rich woman, but it was a very unhappy marriage. He was a very troubled individual, Theodor Herzl. And he goes to Paris as a correspondent of the “Neue Freie Presse” which was one of the most liberal papers in Vienna. The editor was Jewish. It was an assimilationist paper though. Quieten down and all these horrors will go away. And he is actually in the press box at the time of the Dreyfus affair. You know, what’s happened recently with the rise of anti-Semitism in the West and the marches, I’ve read so much about this. I’ve read so much about what Theodor Herzl must have felt because when Dreyfus, the only Jew on the general staff was accused of selling secrets to the Germans, everyone at the time believed he was guilty, but what struck Herzl was the mob were at the gates when he was being publicly dishonoured screaming not death to Dreyfus, but death to the Jews. And he was in the journalist box and it was like a knife through his heart. The assimilationist. Let me read you something else that he wrote in 1896. About two years ago, I wanted to solve the Jewish question, at least in Austria with the help of the Catholic church I wished to gain access to the pope and say to him, help us against the anti-Semites and I will start a great movement for the free and honourable conversion of the Jews to Christianity.

You see, this was Herzl at this stage, he’s looking back, and he realises in Paris, he sees the mob screaming death to the Jews. He has tried so hard to be a sophisticated European. He realises it isn’t going to work. And because he’s a journalist and because he’s a writer and because he understands publicity, he thinks he’s got to do something about it. Now, how do you create a movement? Because as I said, he doesn’t invent the term. In fact, there have been far more profound things written about Zionism by people who came before Herzl, but he understands populism and he realises that he has to raise money and create a movement. So to raise money, you go to some of the richest Jews in the world. He tries Baron de Hirsch. He tries Rothschild. Rothschild said the Jews must not rise too high. Keep it quiet. This will all go away. He meets, though, a doctor called Max Nordau. Max Nordau was a fascinating controversial character. Very famous because he’d written a book called “Degeneration” about the corruption of the fantasier. And he says to Herzl, and he was also an embryonic psychiatrist. He said, if you are mad, then so am I. And then he comes to London. Through Nordau he goes to meet Israel Zangwill. Israel Zangwill a very important writer. And he meets him at 24 Oxford Road, Kilburn, in November 1895.

That is when political Zionism is born because Herzl meets Zangwill through Nordau. And because of that, he’s introduced to the Kilburn Wanderers. He meets Asher Myers. And he writes down his idea in the most famous Jewish paper of the time, “The Jewish Chronicle.” And in it, he writes down his ideas for a Jewish state. Now, the majority of Jews thought he was absolutely barking mad. When he went back to Vienna, he went to the opera. They made fun of him in the coffee houses. Here comes Herzl the king of the Jews. He does attract a certain amount of attention from various individuals, a man called Hechler who was a Christian theologian. He manages to achieve a certain amount of success with the Christian world. And he also realises at first when he writes “The Jewish State” he doesn’t care where the land will be, but his fame grows. Remember, this is an era of communication. It’s an era of the telegraph. It’s an era of postal service. News of Herzl, the charismatic journalist who’s quite famous, he finds out from the Jews of the East, the far more conservative Jewish characters. Herzl didn’t know Hebrew. he didn’t know much about the Jewish experience, really. He understood anti-Semitism that it had to be in Palestine. At one stage, he thought maybe Argentina would do, because Baron de Hirsch is buying land. And they make him understand that only in the ancient homeland can there ever really be the regeneration of the Jew because this comes out to we’re not just going to create a Jewish state. We are going to regenerate. He manages to meet the grand vizier of the sultan. Through various contacts he realises he needs the support of the big powers. And to do that, to have a platform, he needs to create a congress.

Can we go on with the slides please? Now, he first thought that the congress should be held in Munich, but it was actually Jews of the town who didn’t want it. They were frightened because if you think about it, many of the greatest critics of Zionism are going to be Jews who feel themselves to be totally integrated into German society, French society, British society. They are Brits of the Jewish religion. Frenchmen of the Jewish religion. And here you have this cosmopolitan figure who is now saying, what we need to do is to create a congress to put down the ideas for creating a Jewish state. And the people of Munich were against it. So in the end, he’s going to hold it in Basel in Switzerland, in sleepy Basel. Let’s have a look at the next slide, please. This is the Grand Hotel Les Trois Rois. Let’s see the next photo. That famous photo. There is Herzl on the balcony of The Three Kings, actually, of the Three Kings Hotel. And I know a couple of my students have actually been there. And the word went out for the conference. Let’s see the next slide, please. This is the first Zionist Congress. It was held between August the 29th, 1987. It lasted for three days. Herzl insisted on total decorum. Everyone should wear top hats and frock coats. In fact, so that he didn’t alienate the religious, he and a few of his friends including Zangwill went to the synagogue. And it was Zangwill who said, who actually wrote something very beautiful. He said, we sat down by the waters of Babylon and we wept for Zion. We sat down by the waters of Basel and determined to weep no more. Now, let’s go on please. There were 200 delegates. They came from 17 different countries. And I’m going to give you a notion how this is a world thing.

There were quite a few from Vienna, including Nathan Birnbaum who was the main star of Kadimah, the Jewish Zionist organisation at the university. They came from Vilna. They came from Paris. Nahum Sokolow came from Warsaw. They came from Yessey. They came from Leipzig. Zangwill came from London. They came from Brest-Litovsk. They came from Cologne. They came from Lemberg. They came from Zurich. They came from Brussels. They came from Heidelberg. They came from Bialystok. They came from Charlottenburg. They came from Hummel. They came from Freiberg, from Grodno, from Pince, from Buchach, from Frankfurt, from Sofia, from Turnov, from Kraków, from Belgrade, from Chișinău, from Gaditz, from Riga, from Hamburg, from Paris, from Smolensk, from Ekaterinoslav, that’s where Ussishkin came from. From Kiev. Max Nordau, of course, came in from Paris. Rabbi from Diepholz. They came from Jaffa. They came from Manchester. who is going to become a great influence later on, on Chaim Weizmann. Asher Ginsberg, Ahad Ha'am are from Odessa. They came from Constantinople. A rabbi from Constantinople, Yosef Sack. From New York came Adam Rosenberg. From Rehovot, Teitelbaum. From Sofia, from Poltava, from Montpelier, from Constanza. And there were women there. Now, what is interesting about women, women could participate but not given full voting rights until the second conference.

Half the delegates, though, came from Eastern Europe. Can we see the picture of the delegates. There you see. And here you have the people who are going to be elected. And, of course, you have Herzl. Max Nordau who’d written, of course, he had written “Degeneration.” And you see Abraham Salz and Samuel Pineles. These are the characters who are going to be the vice presidents of the organisation. A tight structure is going to be imposed. Can we go on, please. That is actually where it was held. It’s the Stadtcasino in Basel as I said, for three days. Let’s have a look at some more pictures. There you see all the delegates. These are more pictures of the Zionist Congress. There you see Herzl in the middle. And next to him you see Israel Zangwill. Israel Zangwill, a very, very interesting individual. Can we go on, please. Mountain Jewish delegation. They came from all walks of life Jews. They answered the call of the Westerner, Theodor Herzl, the charismatic Westerner. It’s fascinating because people try and explain what was it that Herzl had because as I said, he was not the profound thinker, but he was a visionary. It’s no accident that when Ben-Gurion proclaimed the state of Israel, he did so under a portrait of Theodor Herzl. Look at those eyes. Can we go on, please. Let’s have a look at the protocols. The protocols were established, and I’m going to read them to you. Zionism seeks to establish a home for the Jewish people in Palestine secured by public law. So don’t let’s offend the sultan.

To achieve this goal the promotion in Palestine of Jewish agriculturalists, artisans and business people, the organisation and bringing together of all Jews through local general events according to the laws of the various countries. The strengthening of Jewish feeling and national consciousness. Preparatory steps for obtaining governmental approval, which is necessary to the achievement of the Zionist ideal. Now, they also decided who will be the vice presidents and how they would have them annually. They were going to set up a joint stock company. And political Zionism there was a debate. Ahad Ha'am actually said, I feel like a mourner at a wedding feast, because he believed that Zionism should be almost organic. He said that Zionism must be a movement to regenerate spiritually, morally the Jew, so light can come out of Israel to the diaspora and regenerate the whole world. He believed in cultural Zionism. It was Herzl, though, who was a political activist. And Herzl realised that what he had to do was to promote Zionism amongst the Gentiles because he understood the nature of power. And it’s got to actually be a country. It’s countries that is going to help with Zionism. Now, in fact, after the Congress, he has his mandate. It’s ironic, and I’m going to talk about this when I talk about Bern that many are anti-Semites actually believed that the protocols of the elders of Zion came out of Zionism. You know, it’s fascinating. That evil document, which is a conspiracy theory that Jews rule the world, which is still so potent. I’m going to talk about that when I talk about Bern, because, again, good old Switzerland, the protocols went on trial in Switzerland. So that will give us an opportunity to talk about these evil conspiracy theories, but the anti-Semites, think about it.

There were more journalists in Basel than delegates. “The New York Times” sent people, “The Time.” War jury coming together. The reestablishment of a Jewish state after 2,000 years. This is a headline. It’s no accident, by the way, that Royter was a Jew, but that’s another story. Anyway, the point I’m making. At the end of the conference he wrote this. In Basel I created the Jewish state. Maybe in five years, certainly in 50, it will be a reality. Now, the point is nobody could have understood the horror that was going to engulf the Jewish people with the Shoah, but on one level, and this is almost obscene to say it, the Shoah was almost an indication of Zionism because the Zionists said, anti-Semitism is so potent that it can never be eradicated. The only answer is to have statehood and to have power. Many, many Jews were against Zionism. I don’t have to tell you that the major critics, for example, of the Balfour Declaration were Jews who felt themselves as British citizens to be comfortable in Britain. And I do want to say a word about the Arab population. Ironically, when the Balfour Declaration was issued, promises were made to the Arabs too. And for a very short period, there was almost a hope of peace. The Emir Faisel, Lawrence of Arabia wanted the Jews in the Middle East. The Emir Faisel, the Emir Hussein, they wanted the Jews in the Middle East. It was their disappointed dreams. And the appointment of Hajj Amin al-Husayni to the post of Mufti of Jerusalem, who was the leader of the Arabs of Palestine. They didn’t even use the word Palestine, by the way. These were all administrative districts of the Ottoman Empire.

I have lectured on this. It’s on Lockdown those of you who are interested. And ironically, William and I are working on a presentation to look at the tragedy of the history, because there’s a horrible tragedy in the ifs and buts of what could have happened, but that’s for later on. But anyway, he wrote, today I created the Jewish state. And in fact, following on from the conference, he wore himself out trying to obtain from governments some sort of resolution. And ironically, he had most success with the British. It was the British, and we’ve covered this in lectures. In 1903 they offered a homeland, actually, on the Kenyan-Ugandan border. It had just happened after an appalling pogrom in Kishinev. And I have to say this to you. I almost believe having seen some of the descriptions of the pogrom in Israel, that they’d read what happened in Kishinev. They read what happened at Khmelnytskyi massacres. It was so horrific that Herzl was prepared to take the British offer almost as a stepping stone. However, it was the delegates from Kishinev who said no. We can only create a Jewish state in our original homeland. Before we come on to Herzl’s death, I want to talk to you about something else he wrote. He wrote the “Neue Ghetto.” Remember he was a writer. He was also a playwright. And he wrote a book called “Altneuland.” Tel Aviv, Hill of Spring it’s based on that. Can we see the next slide, please. There you see the actual thing I’ve talked about, the following slide. There you see the Bales Programme, which I’ve discussed with you. I want to come to “Altneuland” by Theodor Herzl. “Altneuland” he wrote it in 1902. Friedrich Loewenberg he tyres of Vienna.

He’s the protagonist. He tyres of the world of European decadence. He joins an Americanized Prussian aristocrat and they travel to a remote island. On the way they stop at Jaffa on the way to the Pacific, and they find it a backward, destitute, and sparsely populated land. And that’s how it appeared to Herzl when he visited in 1898. In 1898 he went to the land of Israel. Why? To meet up with the kaiser, who at one stage it appeared that he was going to help. What then happens is Loewenberg and this other character, they spend the following 20 years on the island. They’re cut off from civilization. On the way back they stop in Palestine to find a great change. And can I mention, when we talk about Palestine, it’s important to remember, and this is where there’s so much ignorance. The word Palestine was not used by the Arabs. The word Palestine first comes into usage when the Romans expelled the Jews from Judea. And to actually completely humiliate them they name it for the Philistines. It was used in the Renaissance by certain scholars. And it was first used in the Arab world by Christian Arabs, who were studying in Paris at the end of the 19th century. The Arabs who lived there referred to the area as Greater Syria, by the way. So anyway, he comes to Palestine, does Loewenberg, and they find a great change. There’s a Jewish state. It’s called the New Society. Jews have rediscovered and reclaimed their destiny as a nation. Some of the leaders are from Vienna. The endeavour is very prosperous, strong, and cooperative industry with a state of art technology. A free just and cosmopolitan society has been created. Herzl, by the way, dreamt, he loved Wagner. He dreamt that there would be an opera house in Jerusalem where “Rienzi” would be played. The Arabs have full rights, and an Arab engineer is one of the leaders.

Most merchants in the country are Armenians, Greeks, and members of other ethnic groups, but then a fanatical rabbi establishes a political platform saying the land only belongs to the Jews, but then he is defeated. And as a result, you have a liberal egalitarian model society, modern welfare states, mutual aid, mutual societies, a mixed economy with public ownership, agricultural cooperatives, private entrepreneurship. It’s loyal to Europe’s cultural heritage. The society is multilingual. German, Hebrew, Yiddish, the main languages, very much reproducing European customs. There are coffee houses, there are theatres, there is the opera. Jerusalem is the capital with the seat of Parliament, Congress and the Jewish Academy. Haifa is the industrial centre of the Jewish state. Now, it was translated into Hebrew by Nahum Sokolow. He gave it a poetic title, “Tel Aviv.” So in 1908, when the cornerstone of Tel Aviv was laid, it is back to “Altneuland.” And this is what he said. This is Herzl writing in 1902, 123 years ago. Everyone will be free in his belief and disbelief as he is in his nationality. And if it should come to pass that men of other creeds and nationalities live amongst us, we shall accord them honourable position for protection and equality before the law. So that was his dream of a state. Remember, he was a European. He was a man of Budapest and Vienna.

He was a man of the cosmopolitan Habsburg empire who had been horrified by the way that the Jews were being disgorged with Karl Lueger in Vienna, the rise of racial anti-Semitism, the rise of racial anti-Semitism in Paris. For Herzl it was a response to modern anti-Semitism. To other Jews it was an authentic nationalism. And what is also ironic, up until 1933, only 215,000 Jews that actually answered the call of Zionism. It took that gaping rendering of Western civilization, the Shoah. And then never forget that Israel was created by public law. The United Nations in 1947, November 1947, November the 29th, 1947, that is when the United Nations partitioned Palestine into a Jewish state and an Arab state. Much of what was to have been the Arab state Gaza, was taken by Egypt. The West Bank was taken by Jordan. And the rest as they say is history. And I must tell you that when Israel was invaded by five Arab nations, one of the most strident defenders of Israel was “The Daily Worker.” “The Daily Worker” wrote an article, the communist paper in Britain. Remember Stalin backed Israel. The communist newspaper in Britain actually said, this is the struggle. Remember, it was a young socialist state of this young socialist state against Arab feudalism. Oh, how the world has changed. Now, Theodor Herzl, he had a weak heart, tragic life, and he died age 44. He was only 44 years old. And when he was dying, he was in a sanitarium. And young Zionists came to sort of stand guard outside the hospital. Stefan Zweig. Can we see the next slide, please. Stefan Zweig, one of the great writers who knew Theodor Herzl. He was a young writer on the “Neue Freie Presse.”

And he said Herzl was the first great man he ever met. It’s interesting, when Herzl died, the newspaper, which was assimilationist, remember it had a Jewish editor. It didn’t talk about Herzl’s Zionism at all. It was almost like it was an embarrassment, but this is what Stefan Zweig wrote a description. Suddenly to all the railway stations of the city by day and by night, from all realms and lands, every train bought new arrivals. Western, Eastern, Russian, Turkish Jews, from all the provinces and all the little towns, they hurried excitedly. The shock of the news still written on their faces. Never was it more clearly manifest what strife and talk had hitherto concealed. It was a great movement whose leader had now fallen. The procession was endless. Vienna, startled, became aware it was not just a writer or a mediocre poet who had passed away, but one of those creators of ideas who disclosed themselves triumphantly in a single country, to a single people at vast intervals. All the regulations were upset through a sort of elementary and ecstatic mourning, such as I have never seen before, nor since at a funeral. And it was this gigantic outpouring of grief from the depths of millions of souls that made me realise for the first time, how much passion and hope this lone and lonesome man had borne into the world through the power of a single thought. That was Stefan Zweig’s epithet to Theodor Herzl. And, of course, Theodor Herzl was buried in Vienna. And in 1949 his body was brought back to Jerusalem and he now, of course, lies in Mount Herzl. And as I said before, when Ben-Gurion proclaimed the state, it was under a picture of Theodor Herzl.

So interesting. In a course on Switzerland, Basel, for me, it was the story of Theodor Herzl. And it does, of course. touch other great figures of this period. The great Sigmund Freud. When Herzl lived in Vienna he lived, of course, very near Sigmund Freud. They never met, but they exchanged ideas. And Freud did call Herzl a great son of his people. And there’s another Freud story. When Freud was dying, remember, he died in London. He had cancer, throat cancer. And his son recalls that one of the last people who came to see him was, in fact, Chaim Weizmann. We don’t know what was said, but his son said that when Chaim Weizmann left his father was smiling and he was very happy. And, unfortunately, one of Freud’s descendants has signed this terrible petition of the artists who are, anyway, I’m not going to go any further on that. And, of course, remember, Albert Einstein also was a great admirer of Freud. Not only was he a trustee of the Hebrew University, but he gave the first real lecture. When the cornerstone of the Hebrew University was laid, he gave the first lecture at the Hebrew University and he went with Weizmann on a fundraising tour. So some of our greats who changed the world, they also believed in the Zionist dream. I’m not saying they didn’t believe in it critically, but they believed in it. And I just felt that today of all days, we need to remember Herzl, and what happened in Basel 126 years ago. Thank you. There you see Herzl’s tomb. IDF soldiers visit Herzl’s tomb to remind them of what they they are protecting, yes. Let’s have a look at questions.

Q&A and Comments:

Yeah, we will be talking about Switzerland. I promise you, Rose. In fact, my son-in-law will be talking about, I’m afraid, the Gnomes of Zurich.

Yes, William Tyler is a mensch. Yes, Rose, I think it’s interesting. As I said, much of my personal support is coming from my non-Jewish friends. My Jewish friends now we are coming together more. And I think that’s very important. You know, we’re such a fractious divided people. There can’t be anything more fractious and divided than the state of Israel, but in this hour of horror, there’ll be time for analysis afterwards, but in this hour of horror, the majority of us are coming together.

This is Nurete. My late father graduated from the University of Vienna with two PhDs and a law degree. My parents had to escape Vienna in Switzerland after the Anschluss. They managed to cross over to Switzerland and from there to Israel. Yes, Nurete, I mean, the Swiss record, though, unfortunately, in the war is not a good one. I’m going to be talking about Carl Lutz next week, who did save. He was the Swiss consulate in Budapest, and he saved probably 62,000 people, but in the main the Swiss were pretty ghastly.

Hilton. Israel showed videos from the 7th of October pogrom to over 200 journalists. I’m still trying to find two lines written about the atrocities. Everyone afraid to hurt distracts feelings. Look, what happened, you know, sometimes there are no words, Hilton. It was unspeakable. It is the rending of the world we know that. And actually a lot of righteous people know that too. I must tell you, 30,000 Christians wanted to march from Golders Green in sympathy. Believe it or not, the police didn’t let them march because they thought it would upset a march that was happening seven miles away of the Palestinians. Believe me, things are going to happen in England. I can see England actually getting very, very, very angry. I’m not talking about necessarily, and I’m going to say the word, but I’m not talking about wokeness now. I’m talking about ordinary folk who do believe in justice. And I believe there’s a lot more of them out there than we. The silent majority are getting quite angry. The picture shows a huge number, far more than 200.

The largest collection of Herzl, this is from Bernice. The largest collection of Herzl memorabilia is owned by a Jewish lawyer living in Toronto. His wife keeps telling everyone their house is a Herzl museum. Oh, that’s lovely.

Q: What language was used at the Zionist Congress?

A: I think it was a kind of Congress Deutsche. It was German, yes, it was German. Of course, it was German. Look, you know, the Technion, they were going to have the language in German. The whole debate is what is the language of the Jews is very, very complicated. If you think about the Hebrew language, language is also, look, the Bundists use Yiddish. The Zionists used Hebrew. It took the creation of the first Hebrew dictionary. It was extraordinary. A language had to be recreated.

Q: Do you think the invention of photography helped the Zionist vision? Could it have succeeded before photography?

A: Serena, I think it was also about communication, not just photography. It’s about ease of which people could meet with each other, the railway networks. Think of Herzl’s funeral. They came to Vienna from all over the world. The reason I read you where the people came from. It’s a big hub. Switzerland’s a big hub in the middle. So some of the tools of modernity were good. Tragically we’ve managed to use them in the main for evil in my view.

Q: How many of the attendees of the conference were Sawadee Jews?

A: I’m not sure. There were Sawadee Jews there, of course, there were. I’m not sure of the proportion. This is from Joan. Hi Joan, miss you. My grandparents totally assimilated German Jews. Took their Zionist son to the 16th Congress in Zurich in 1929. Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow. It’s funny that women weren’t allowed to participate in voting until the second Congress. I’d love to know more about that. I’m sure someone online knows more about that. Some of them came from Zionist chapters in their own right as well. Ironically, today in 1945, the U.N. was founded in view of what the U.N. morphed into should Israel stay in or not.

Q: Do we keep our enemies close?

A: Arlene, it’s so extraordinary. And don’t forget that the term genocide itself was created by a Polish Jew who lost most of his family. It’s so ironic, the role of the Jew in the world. I am not a philosopher or a theologian, but sometimes I think we need them now. We need the philosophers. We need the theologians to try and put in words so many of these things that are happening.

Leo. When he was in London, Herzl was ill, but insisted on only consulting a Viennese doctor, so my grandfather was summoned. We have a lovely letter from Herzl thanking my grandfather to treat him and waiving his fee. Leo, is it possible you could actually send that copy, a photo of that letter to Lockdown so that we can show it to students at our next presentation? That’d be wonderful if you don’t mind. I keep on telling you how much I love Lockdown. Not only because I feel we’re a big community now, but also because things like this.

Q: This is Jeanette. Mine is for the present condition of the kidnapped Israelis. Are there any Arab countries on behalf of Israel asking Hamas to free all the kidnapped victims?

A: Not as far as I know, not as far as I know, but I am going to tell you that I have had notes from a couple of Arab friends. Believe me. I’ve also had a wonderful letter from an Iranian friend of mine whose family got out because of the Ayatollahs, and she said, we are marching with you. So we are not alone. Look, remember what Jonathan Sacks said. First they hated our religion, than our race, than our nation. And what did Howard say? Howard Jacobson, they can’t forgive us the Holocaust. Look, we are still meant to be the moral conscience of the world. What are they trying to do to us? What are they trying to do to the Jewish people? The worst atrocity for 2,000 years were perpetrated on the Jews, the Shoah, an attempt to wipe us off the face of the earth, but somehow, despite all the appalling suffering, we survived. We created a country and now it’s almost they cannot bear the fact that we have a morality. We still have a morality. I’m sorry I’m just so angry.

Q: Were any of the delegates from Arab countries?

A: I’m not sure, I don’t think so, oh, but no, but don’t forget that the Jews living in the Arab world at this stage were not ill-treated in the main. Islam is fine. The whole issue is Dar al-Islam. Then, of course, this is something else that is never mentioned. When Israel was created you need to look at what happened to the Jews in the Arab world. And this, of course, is my friend, Lyn Julius’ subject. Over a million of them were thrown out. They came to Israel many of them. Some came to the West, but many went to Israel, so.

Yana. The partition of the Palestine mandate was not recognition by law. U.N. resolutions are just that, resolutions. Apart from these treaties resolution consists of laws passed by individual countries. Was it America or Russia, Yana, that gave Israel de jure recognition first? I think it was Russia. I’d have to check on that. It’s either America or Russia, de facto and de jure.

Q: Do I want to say a few words about Herzl’s children?

A: Yes, they were tragic, weren’t they? There are no Herzl descendants now. One child committed suicide. Another child died in Terezienstad. And his grandson committed suicide. So a tragic, tragic family. Quite often the children of the great, and also his wife was unstable we know that. There are no descendants of the Herzls. Bernadette says, Jewish history must be taught. I couldn’t agree more.

Q: How often do you speak with non-Jewish groups?

A: I used to teach Jewish history as a sick form option in Jewish schools all over London. And I’m going to say this publicly, we didn’t have enough money. I begged certain wealthy individuals to fund it. This is 30 years ago. They said it wasn’t defence and they wouldn’t. Now we would never get into those schools, but the problem is that Jewish kids don’t know their own history. If you want to do something, make sure that Jewish history is taught at every Jewish school. That would be a start. I’m actually getting groups together now of young people who want to know their story. There are some non-Jews who want to know. You see, the Arab-Israeli conflict the way it’s taught is absolutely a shunda, but don’t get me on that because I am not being rational enough tonight. Thank you, Judy.

Yes, Barry, there were people from Slonim at the first Zionist Congress. I’m pretty sure there was. I didn’t read everything ‘cause I couldn’t go on and on and on, but there were people from Slonim, yes. You’ve got a thing about Slonim. That’s where your ancestors came from.

We don’t owe the world any explanation for our actions subsequent to such a pogrom says Selena. Let me say something, Selena. After what happened, which I think should make the blood curdle of anyone who believes in humanity, but we will want the world to know because we are the people of morality. Never forget that. Christianity has taken from us our moral law. Never forget that. We are the people of morality. If we lose that, we mustn’t. Our enemies really would’ve won if we lose that. We’re angry justifiably. I don’t know a Jew who isn’t a self-hater, who isn’t white with anger at the moment. Jewish self-hatred is another disease. I also know that most of my Jewish friends are doing everything they can to help, but as I said to you, so are non-Jews, but it’s not what we owe the world. It’s what we owe ourselves. There’s a very, very strange comment of Adolph Hitler’s which Robert Wistrich drew to my attention. Hitler said, I can never forgive the Jews for inventing moral conscience. They didn’t, but that’s the point, isn’t it?

Don’t you see the fact that Israel tries to be moral that’s a problem. Anyway, I think we need a few philosophers. One of my favourite writers on Israel is Annett Wolf. Now I believe, I haven’t spoken to her, but I believe Lyn Julius will be running a session with Annett Wolf in November. Yes, she’s a wonderful person, Monty, thank you.

This is from Milayna. Hi Milayna, nice to speak to you. Thank you. In 1972, my husband, two children and I were driving to Odessa and spent the night in Kitchener. Sadly, I was too ignorant of history and we just drove on. Milayna, that’s extraordinary. And you will remember, of course, that Milayna gave a session to us a while back. So I’m glad to hear that you’re still part of our community and I believe I’m seeing you in London soon. And, of course, Milayna was brought out of Prague, and, of course, came over on Nicholas Winton’s transport, so.

Richard Littlejohn, this is from Sarah. Richard Littlejohn today referred to the March for Peace and police refusal to allow the march. Yes, there’s a lot of journalists on our side. Don’t forget that. This is from Celine. I agree with you about desire for justice will triumph when it’s Palestinians marching according to our Judeo-Christian values system across Western countries. Look, as I said to you, I really do believe, I still believe there’s a lot of decency out there. When I’m feeling down, I speak to people like William Tyler, actually, 'cause he represents to me what is good about this country. As I said, I’m only speaking for Britain. Wendy is coming over from America tonight or tomorrow and she will have far more news on what’s actually going on in America. And, of course, the Kirsch Foundation are up to there. You can imagine what they’re trying to do.

Yes, Leon, the story of how Eliezer Ben-Yehuda reintroduced modern Hebrew is fascinating. I mean he created a living language. Yes, we have lectured on that in the past and it will be on the website.

Mira is recommending Emil Salim’s book. Now I recommend anything by Emil Salim, he’s brilliant.

Yes, Selena, attack on October the 7th was an attack on our Western value system. Many people outside the Jewish faith see that Jewish values and their own values were debased and disrespected. Yes, you know that quote, come on, that German. First they came from the communists and I wasn’t a communist so I didn’t stand up. Then they came for the Jews and I wasn’t a Jew so I didn’t stand up. Then they came for the Protestants and I wasn’t a Protestant so I didn’t stand up. And then they came for me and no one was left to stand up. Yeah. How often is it said the Jews are the canaries in the mine? But you know what happened to the canary in the mine, they die and that ain’t going to happen anymore. What is the picture on the wall behind you? I’m not going to answer that, it’s naughty. Russia recognised Israel first. Yes, thank you. Was it de jure as well? I think it was.

Michael Block. Herzl had a niece who lived in Israel and I’m pretty sure she had children. Unfortunately, I don’t remember her surname. Hold on. The last Herzl descendant died in 1949, Michael, and he had no sister. His sister died before she married. His sister died when she was only 20. So it could be another family member. As far as I’m concerned, Michael, maybe you know more than I do. One of Herzl’s children converted to Christianity. Sure. This is from Jacqueline. It’s heartbreaking on top of all this horror, we have to pay the BBC who are endangering our lives. We are so alone and vulnerable. Well, this whole issue of the BBC is a fascinating one and I’m sure that my daughter Tanya will have a lot to say about it when we talk about the liberal left and their abandonment of Israel on Sunday. Yes, all these talks are recorded. It was be Bernhofer. Now was it Bernhofer? I’m not sure. Yes, I think you’re probably. I have to think that through, thank you. Pastor Niemöller.

That’s it, Alice. Niemöller, first they came from, thank you. These barbarians threaten us all. A line has to be drawn in the sand, and the West has to decide who it’s going to back. Well, let’s be careful here. Look, both the conservative party and the opposition party in British Parliament backed Israel quite strongly. So did the Democrats in America. So let’s be careful. We have government backing.

Perhaps she was a cousin said Michael. Yes, as far as I know, everything I’ve ever read. So I think that’s all the questions.

Thank you all very much. Everybody stay safe. Keep listening to Lockdown because at least it gives us a certain sense of community and each of us in our individual communities and particularly our friends in Israel, we really are with you as much as we can be. We are with you all. God bless everyone.