The Basel Program was the first manifesto of the Zionist movement, drafted between 27-30 August 1897 and adopted unanimously at the First Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland on 30 August 1897.
In 1951 it was replaced by the Jerusalem Program.
The Basel Program was drafted by a committee elected on Sunday 29 August 1897 [2] comprising Max Nordau (heading the committee), [3] Nathan Birnbaum, Alexander Mintz, Siegmund Rosenberg, Saul Rafael Landau, [4] [3] [5] together with Hermann Schapira and Max Bodenheimer who were added to the committee on the basis of them having both drafted previous similar programs (including the "Kölner Thesen"). [2]
The seven-man committee prepared the Program over three drafting meetings. [2]
The program set out the goals of the Zionist movement as follows: [1]
Zionism seeks to secure for the Jewish people a publicly recognized, legally assured homeland in Palestine.
For the attainment of this purpose, the Congress considers the following means serviceable:
1. The promotion of the settlement of Jewish agriculturists, artisans, and tradesmen in Palestine.
2. The federation of all Jews into local or general groups, according to the laws of the various countries.
3. The strengthening of the Jewish feeling and consciousness.
4. Preparatory steps for the attainment of those governmental grants which are necessary to the achievement of the Zionist purpose.
The original draft did not include the word for "publicly recognized"; this was the only amendment made during the debate at the Congress, and can be seen in the final version with the word öffentlich inserted via a curly bracket. [1] The amended draft was approved unanimously by the 200-person congress. [1]
Zionism is a nationalist movement that espouses the establishment of, and support for a homeland for the Jewish people centered in the area roughly corresponding to what is known in Jewish tradition as the Land of Israel, which corresponds in other terms to the region of Palestine, Canaan, or the Holy Land, on the basis of a long Jewish connection and attachment to that land.
Max Simon Nordau was a Zionist leader, physician, author, and social critic.
A homeland for the Jewish people is an idea rooted in Jewish history, religion, and culture. The Jewish aspiration to return to Zion, generally associated with divine redemption, has suffused Jewish religious thought since the destruction of the First Temple and the Babylonian exile.
The World Zionist Organization, or WZO, is a non-governmental organization that promotes Zionism. It was founded as the Zionist Organization at the initiative of Theodor Herzl at the First Zionist Congress, which took place in August 1897 in Basel, Switzerland. The goals of the Zionist movement were set out in the Basel Program.
Max Isidor Bodenheimer was a lawyer and one of the main figures in German Zionism. An associate of Theodor Herzl, he was the first president of the Zionist Federation of Germany and one of the founders of the Jewish National Fund. After his flight in 1933 from Nazi Germany, and a short sojourn in Holland, he settled in Palestine in 1935.
The Zionist Congress was established in 1897 by Theodor Herzl as the supreme organ of the Zionist Organization (ZO) and its legislative authority. In 1960 the names were changed to World Zionist Congress and World Zionist Organization (WZO), respectively. The World Zionist Organization elects the officers and decides on the policies of the WZO and the Jewish Agency, including "determining the allocation of funds." The first Zionist Congress was held in Basel, Switzerland in 1897. Any Jew over age 18 who belongs to a Zionist association is eligible to vote, and the number of elected delegates to the Congress is 500. 38% of the delegates are allocated to Israel, 29% to the United States of America, and 33% to the remainder of the countries of the Diaspora. In addition there are about 100 delegates which are appointed by International Organizations affiliated with WZO.
Central Zionist Archives is the official archive of the institutions of the Zionist Movement: the World Zionist Organization, the Jewish Agency, the Jewish National Fund, and Keren Hayesod/the United Israel Appeal as well as the archives of the World Jewish Congress. The archive is located in West Jerusalem adjacent to Binyanei HaUma.
Zvi Hermann Schapira, or Hermann Hirsch Schapira, was a Lithuanian rabbi, mathematician at the University of Heidelberg, and Zionist. He was the first to suggest founding a Jewish National Fund for the purchase of land in Palestine.
The First Zionist Congress was the inaugural congress of the Zionist Organization (ZO) held in Basel (Basle), from August 29 to August 31, 1897. 208 delegates and 26 press correspondents attended the event. It was convened and chaired by Theodor Herzl, the founder of the modern Zionism movement. The Congress formulated a Zionist platform, known as the Basel program, and founded the Zionist Organization. It also adopted the Hatikvah as its anthem.
Oskar Adolf Marmorek was a Galician-born Austro-Hungarian architect and Zionist.
The principal common goal of Zionism was to establish a homeland for the Jewish people. Zionism was produced by various philosophers representing different approaches concerning the objective and path that Zionism should follow.
Die Welt was a weekly newspaper founded by Theodor Herzl in May 1897 in Vienna. It was designed to promote Zionism. From 1897 to 1914 it was the principal organ of the Zionist movement. From 1897 to 1900, the paper was edited by Erwin Rosenberger.
Samuel Pineles was a philanthropist and Religious Zionist activist. He was the driving force behind the 1881 Romanian Zionist meeting in Focșani. He was the president and secretary of the Central Committee to Settle the Land of Israel and Syria and was active in Hovevei Zion in Romania.
The Zionist Federation of Germany also known as the Zionist Association for Germany was a Zionist organisation in Germany that was formed in 1897 in Cologne by Max Bodenheimer. It had attracted 10,000 members by 1914 and was by far the largest Zionist organisation in Germany. The group supported the 1933 Haavara Agreement between Nazi Germany and German Zionist Jews which was designed to encourage German Jews to emigrate to Palestine. They also opposed the Anti-Nazi boycott of 1933 fearing that it could make the Nazi boycott of Jewish businesses worse.
Maxa Nordau was a French painter. She was from a Jewish family and was the daughter of Max Nordau, a prominent Zionist. She often travelled in the Middle East, and many of her paintings are portraits or nudes of Arab or Jewish women whom she met there.
The Second World Zionist Congress met in Basel, Switzerland on 28 August 1898. and was the second meeting of the Zionist Organisation. The World Zionist Congress brought together delegates from across the world to raise funds, lobby support and create the institutions that would one day form the modern day Jewish State known as Israel, which was established in 1948. The Congress met every year from 1897 to 1901. The main focus of the Second Congress, as set out by its chair, Theodor Herzl, was to engage with Jewish communities in the diaspora and encourage them to adopt Political Zionism.
The Sixth Zionist Congress was held in Basel, opening on August 23, 1903. Theodor Herzl caused great division amongst the delegates when he presented the "Uganda Scheme", a proposed Jewish colony in what is now part of Kenya. Herzl died the following year.
Jacob Fishman was a Polish-born Jewish American Yiddish newspaper editor and Zionist.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)