1849 - 1923

Author and Zionist leader.

One of Theodor Herzl's earliest supporters, it was Max Nordau who formulated the goal for the Zionist movement in Basle Program at the First Zionist Congress in 1897: "The creation for the Jewish people of a publicly recognized, legally secured Home in Palestine." Following Herzl's death, Nordau became a close adviser to David Wolffsohn, the second president of the World Zionist Organization. Nordau was a staunch advocate of Herzl's brand of political Zionism and was opposed to Ahad HaAm's cultural Zionism and Chaim Weizmann's practical Zionism.

Bibliography

Hertzberg, Arthur. The Zionist Idea. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1959.

— MARTIN MALIN

Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East and North Africa. Copyright © 2004 by The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.