In Basel habe ich den Judenstaat gegründet. - In Basel I founded the Jewish State.
The
first Zionist Congress was to have taken place in Munich, Germany.
However, due to considerable opposition by the local community
leadership, both Orthodox and Reform, it was decided to transfer the
proceedings to Basel, Switzerland.
Herzl acted as chairperson of the
Congress which was attended by some 200 participants. The major
achievements of the Congress were its formulation of the Zionist
platform, known as the Basel program and the foundation of the World
Zionist Organization. The program stated,
"Zionism seeks for the Jewish people a publicly recognized legally secured homeland in Palestine."
This
gave clear expression to Herzl's political Zionism in contrast with the
settlement orientated activities of the more loosely organized Hibbat
Zion. Herzl was elected President of the Zionist organization and an
Inner Actions Committee and a Greater Actions Committee were elected to
run the affairs of the movement between Congresses.
In his diary Herzl wrote,
"Were I to sum up the Basle
Congress in a word - which I shall guard against pronouncing publicly -
it would be this: At Basle I founded the Jewish State."
From Herzl's diaries: 3 September 1897:
Everything
rested on my shoulders; and this is not just something I am telling
myself, for it was proved when on the afternoon of the third day I left
because of fatigue and turned the chairmanship over to Nordau. Then
everything was helter-skelter, and I was told afterwards that it was
pandemonium. Even before I took the chair, things did not click.
German:
Alles ruhte auf meinen
Schultern; und das rede ich mir nicht nur ein, es wurde erwiesen, als
ich am dritten Tage nachmittag vor Müdigkeit abging und das Präsidium
Nordau übertrug. Da ging alles drunter und drüber, und man erzählte mir
später, dass es eine wüste Sitzung war. Auch bevor ich den Vorsitz
übernahm, klappte die Sache nicht.
From Herzl's Opening Address:
We are here to lay the foundation stone of the house which is to shelter the Jewish nation.
...
In
this epoch, in other respects one of such high achievement, we are
surrounded by the ancient hatred. Antisemitism is the well-known modern
name of the movement.
...
The modern, educated, de-ghetto-ized
Jew, who felt himself stabbed to the heart. Today we can say this
calmly, without being suspected of making a play for the tearful
compassion of our enemies. Our conscience is clear. The world has always
ben badly misinformed about us. The feeling of unity among us, which
the world so often and so bitterly throws up to us, was in process of
dissolution when the tide of antisemitism rose about us. Antisemitism
has given us our strength again. We have returned home. Zionism is the
return of the Jews to Judaism even before they return to the Jewish
land.
...
We Zionists seek, for the solution of the Jewish
question, not an international society, but international discussion.
... We have nothing to do with conspiracy, secret intervention or
indirect models. We wish to put the question in the arena and under the
control of free public opinion.
...
Concerning the colonization
efforts in the Argentine and in Palestine we shall never speak except in
terms of the most genuine gratitude. But these were the opening, and
not the closing words of the Zionist movement. This movement must become
greater, if it is to be at all. A people can be helped only by itself;
and if it cannot do that, then it cannot be helped. We Zionists seek to
awaken the Jewish people everywhere to self-help.
...
The basis
can be only that of recognized right, and not of sufferance. We have had
our fill of experience with toleration and with the protected Jew. Our
movement can be logical and consistent only in so far as it aims at the
acquisition of a publicly recognized legal guarantee.
...
All this
my friends and I have repeated over and over again, and we shall not
tire of repeating it until we are understood eveywhere. On this occasion
too, which witnesses the bringing together of Jews from so many
scattered lands in response to the ancient call of the nation, we shall
repeat it. Must we not feel, hanging over us, the intimitation of great
things to come, when we reflect on the hundreds of thousands of Jews
whose eyes are now fixed on us in hope and expectation? Within a few
hours the results of our common counsel will be carried out to the ends
of the earth. It is therefore our duty to send forth a message of
clarification and reassurance. ... That which the individual says or
writes may be passed unnoticed, but not that which issues from this
Congress. ... And finally, it is the duty of this Congress to see to it
that when its sessions have come to an end, we do not relapse into our
previous condition of disorganization. We must create here and now and
organ, a permanent organ, which the Jewish people has lacked till now.
The enterprise is greater than the ambition of wilfulness of any
individual. It is to succeed at all, it must rise to a level of high
impersonality. And our Congress shall endure far into the future, not
only until the day when our need has been met, but far beyond - perhaps
then more than ever. Today we meet on the soil of this friendly nation.
Where shall we be a year from now?
German:
Wir wollen den Grundstein legen zu dem Haus, das dereinst die jüdische Nation beherbergen wird.
...
Und
in dieser Zeit, die sonst so hoch ist, fühlen wir uns überall vom alten
Hass umgeben. Antisemitismus ist der Ihnen nur zu wohlbekannte moderne
Name der Bewegung.
...
Das moderne, gebildete, dem Ghetto
entwachsene, des Schacherns entwöhnte Judentum bekam einen Stich mitten
ins Herz. Wir können das heute ruhig sagen, ohne uns verdächtig zu
machen, dass wir an die Tränendrüsen unserer Gegner appellieren wollen.
Wir sind mit uns im Reinen. Man war in der Welt von jeher schlecht über
uns unterrichtet. Das Gefühl der Zusammengehörigkeit, welches man uns so
häufig und grimmig vorwarf, es war in voller Auflösung begriffen, als
uns der Antisemitismus anfiel. Dieser hat es wieder gestärkt. Wir sind
sozusagen nach Hause gegangen. Der Zionismus ist die Heimkehr zum
Judentum noch vor der Rückkehr ins Judenland.
...
Wir Zionisten
wünschen zur Lösung der Judenfrage nicht etwa einen internationalen
Verein, sondern die internationale Diskussion. ... Es kann sich bei uns
nicht um Bündeleien, geheime Interventionen und Schleichwege handeln,
sondern nur um eine freimütige Erörterung unter der beständigen und
vollständigen Kontrolle der öffentlichen Meinung.
...
Von diesen
Kolonisationsversuchen in Palästina und Argentinien können und werden
wir alle nie anders als mit aufrichtiger Dankbarkeit sprechen. Aber sie
waren nur das erste, sie sind nicht das letzte Wort der zionistischen
Bewegung. Diese muss grösser sein, wenn sie überhaupt sein soll. Ein
Volk kann sich nur selbst helfen; kann es das nicht, so ist ihm eben
nicht zu helfen.
...
Die Basis kann nur ein Zustand des Rechtes
und nicht der Duldung sein. Mit der Toleranz und dem Schutzjudentum auf
Widerruf haben wir nachgerade genug Erfahrungen gemacht. Unsere Bewegung
hat folglich nur dann einen vernünftigen Zug, wenn sie
öffentlich-rechtliche Bürgschaften anstrebt.
...
Das alles haben
meine Freunde und ich oft gesagt. Wir wollen uns die Mühe nicht
verdriessen lassen, es immer und immer wieder zu sagen, bis man uns
versteht. Bei dieser feierlichen Gelegenheit, wo sich Juden aus so
vielen Ländern zusammengefunden haben, auf einen Ruf, auf den alten Ruf
der Nation, heute sei unser Bekenntnis feierlich wiederholt. Muss uns
nicht eine Ahnung grossen Geschehens überfliegen, wenn wir denken, dass
in diesem Augenblicke die Hoffnungen und Erwartungen von vielen
Hunderttausenden unseres Volkes auf unserer Versammlung ruhen. Nach
fernen Ländern, ja über das Weltmeer wird in der nächsten Stunde die
Nachricht von unseren Beratungen und Beschlüssen eilen. Darum soll
Aufklärung und Beruhigung von diesem Kongress ausgehen. ... Was die
einzelnen unter uns schrieben oder sagten, konnte und durfte man achtlos
übergehen - nicht mehr das, was der Kongress hervorbringt. ... Und
endlich wird der Kongress für seine eigene Dauer sorgen, damit wir nicht
wieder auseinander laufen, spurlos und ohne Wirkung. In diesem
Kongresse schaffen wir dem jüdischen Volk ein Organ, das es bisher nicht
hatte, das es aber dringend, zum Leben dringend braucht. Unsere Sache
ist zu gross für den Ehrgeiz und die Willkür einzelner Personen. Sie
muss ins Unpersönliche hinaufgehoben werden, wenn sie gelingen soll. Und
unser Kongress soll ewig leben, nicht nur zur Erlösung aus der alten
Not, sondern nachher erst recht. Heute sind wir hier auf dem gastlichen
Boden dieser freien Stadt - wo werden wir übers Jahr sein?
Before Max Nordau's address the
Praesidium of the Congress was elected, in accordance with the plan
adopted at the preliminary conference. Herzl was President, Nordau First
Vice-President.
After Nordau's address came the reports from the
various countries. Nathan Birnbaum and David Farbstein, in supplementary
addresses dealt with the sociological and economic aspects of the
movement.
The Basel Program
Zionism seeks to secure for the
Jewish people a publicly recognized, legally secured homeland in
Palestine. For the achievement of its purpose the Congress envisages the
following methods:
1.) The programmatic encouragement of the settlement of Palestine with Jewish agricultural workers, laborers and artisans.
2.)
The unification and organization of all Jewry into local and general
groups in accordance with the laws of their respective countries.
3.) The strengthening of Jewish self-awareness and national consciousness.
4.)
The preparation of activity for the obtaining of the consent of the
various governments, necessary for the fulfillment of the aim of
Zionism.
The Creation of an Organization
The
second important task was the creation of an organization.
Here the
difficulty consisted of the possible clash with the laws of the various
countries: in many places membership in international organizations was
forbidden by law. The Congress therefore had to content itself with the
creation of a general framework; the integration of the various local
bodies and the form of membership had to be left to each country.
The
Congress was declared to be "the chief organ of the Zionist movement."
The basis of electoral right was to be the payment of at least a shekel -
which was taken at that time to be the equivalent of one German mark.
The Congress was to elect an "Actions Committee" - "Aktionskomitee",
with its permanent seat in Vienna. Of its membership five were to be
residents of Vienna, and these were to constitute the actual Executive
(Inneres Aktionskomitee); the remainder were to be elected from the
various national organizations.
The Instruments of Action
Max
Bodenheimer reported on the numerous plans which had been suggested, and
proposed the formation of a bank and of a National Fund. Professor
Shapira had already proposed a National Fund in "Die Welt", and now he
urged the adoption of the plan. Schnirer proposed that no futher
immigration into Palestine be undertaken before the status of "legal
security and public recognition" had been accorded to the aims of the
movement; the existing colonies were to be looked upon and supported as
"experimental stations". Kaminka reported on the colonization work done
till that time. Adam Rosenberg of New York spoke on general conditions
on Palestine; Bambus defended the practical work. Heinrich Loewe, part
of his address was delivered in Hebrew, announced the agreement of the
Palestinians to the plans of the Congress. Marcus Ehrenpreis delivered
an address on the Hebrew language, and Prof. Shapira demanded the
creation of a Hebrew University in Palestine.
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http://www.herzl.org/english/Article.aspx?Item=544
There is a CLARION CALL from the seer Vanga, we best be waking up now before the weather decides to take the SUPER VOLCANO in the YellowStone Park and split the NorthAmerican Continent into five (5) new land masses to begin building new again as OBAMA said
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