Herzl, Theodor (1860-1904)

Austrian founder of the Zionist movement. The Dreyfus case convinced him that the only solution to the problem of anti-Semitism was the resettlement of the Jews in a state of their own. His book Der Judenstaad/Jewish State (1896) launched political Zionism, and he became the first president of the World Zionist Organization in 1897.

He was born in Budapest and became a successful playwright and journalist, mainly in Vienna.