Theodor Herzl: “A Solution to the Jewish Question”

( 1896 ) Commentary by Timothy May, North Georgia College & State University

“We have honestly striven everywhere to merge ourselves in the social life of surrounding communities, and to preserve only the faith of our fathers. It has not been permitted to us.” - Paragraph 2
“In countries where we have lived for centuries we are still cried down as strangers; and often by those whose ancestors were not yet domiciled in the land where Jews had already made experience of suffering.” - Paragraph 2
“Let the sovereignty be granted us over a portion of the globe large enough to satisfy the requirements of the nation—the rest we shall manage for ourselves.” - Paragraph 4
“The creation of a new state has in it nothing ridiculous or impossible. We have, in our day, witnessed the process in connection with nations which were not in the bulk of the middle class, but poor, less educated, and therefore weaker than ourselves.” - Paragraph 4
“Supposing His Majesty the Sultan were to give us Palestine, we could in return pledge ourselves to regulate the whole finances of Turkey. There we should also form a portion of the rampart of Europe against Asia, an outpost of civilisation as opposed to barbarism.” - Paragraph 6

Captain Alfred Dreyfus with his wife and children (Library of Congress)

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