33 Hungarian Histories: Hungarian Identity Through Portraits by Molnar Miklos M

Author:Molnar, Miklos M.
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: www.CatchBudapest.com
Published: 2018-07-10T00:00:00+00:00

Simon Corrigan (1964-2006)

Tivadar Herzl, Architect of the Jewish Nation

Photograph of Tivadar Herzl (circa 1900)

A sketch in Herzl's diary of a proposed flag for the Zionist movement (1890s)

Honor guard standing next to Herzl's coffin in Israel

On my first visit to Tel Aviv back in the 1980s I went to the Knesset to see Marc Chagall’s grandiose frescoes. Once there, I peeped into the Assembly Hall where –to my surprise- the only decoration was a huge portrait of Theodore Herzl behind the Speaker’s seat. It was time when diplomatic relations between Hungary and Israel were suspended due to the 1967 war in which the Soviet Union sided with the Arab countries and the rest of the Communist Bloc had to follow suit. Ever since then, Herzl’s Moses-like face with sparkling eyes made a deep impression on me.

Though he was born in Pest in 1860, apart from a plaque on the house of his birth next to the Dohány utca Synagogue, there is hardly any trace in Hungary of his cult to resemble the one in Israel, where even a law was passed in 2004 to commemorate his legacy. Indeed, his endowment to the Jewish Cause made history at the time and still polarizes Jews and non-Jews alike.

It all started in the family. Brought up in a secular fashion he received his basic education in the Lutheran Grammar School in Pest. After his sister’s death, the family moved to Vienna when he was 18, a fact that later explains his definition of his identity: “I am a German Jew from Hungary.” Identity became his topos for the rest of his life. Having a restless mind, even at a young age, Tivadar, was adamant in believing that he was born to fulfill a mission. After studying law and a brief legal career he found his mission in becoming a playwright. Though quite a few of his comedies and dramas were performed in the theatres in Vienna, soon he had to realize that he could not surpass a mediocre level in literature.

Journalism provided much more success, so much so that in 1891 he received an offer from the Neue Freie Presse to be a correspondent for the prestigious Viennese paper in Paris. His Parisian years led him to find the real mission of his life. He became more and more concerned with the issue of anti-semitism sweeping Europe, including the pogroms in Russia, the Dreyfus Trial in 1894, which he attended as a correspondent, and after returning to Vienna in 1895 he found that an arch anti-semite, Karl Lueger - whose famous bon mot was to coin the word ‘Judapest’ - was elected Mayor.

It was in those days that he had a revelation of what the real solution for the Jewish issue would be. After revising his views on possible ways of assimilating Jews into various European societies, including the option of massive conversion, he came to the conclusion that the only way for the Jews to be free was to have a homeland of their own.

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