Theodor Herzl
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Theodor Herzl (1860-1904) is considered the founder of political Zionism. Born in Budapest, Herzl later became a reporter in Paris where he covered the Dreyfus affair, in which Alfred Dreyfuss, a Jewish officer in the French army, was wrongly convicted of treason in 1894. This led Herzl to conclude that Jews could not overcome anti-Semitism by assimilating into society.
In 1896, Herzl published Der Judenstaat (The Jewish State), in which he argued that Jews could gain acceptance in the world only they established a Jewish state. In his 1990 Zionist novel Altneuland (Old New Land), Herzl portrayed the future Jewish state as a socialist utopia.
One of Herzl's more famous quotes regarding the prospects for a Jewish state is: "If you will it, it is no dream."
In 1904, Herzl died in Vienna of pneumonia and a weak heart, but by then he had succeeded in transforming Zionism into a significant political movement. In 1949, Herzl's remains were brought to Israel and buried on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem.
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