Theodore Herzl Admits to Exhaustion But Swears to Continue "The Great Campaign...As Long as I am Able"

November 10, 1896

Add to History Board Share Print
Back to The Collection
Manuscript
See full images and transcript
Theodore Herzl Admits to Exhaustion But Swears to Continue "The Great Campaign...As Long as I am Able"
Autograph Letter Signed
1 page | SMC 732

Quick Reference

  • Theodor Herzl

    Background

    Writing tirelessly, agitating endlessly, planning the first Zionist Congress – and beyond that, the Jewish political state – here, for a moment, Herzl admits to exhaustion which, no sooner expressed, gives way to his determination to continue:

    It is true that I experience moments of fatigue and annoyance because of certain perfidious attacks. But be reassured: I shall continue the great campaign for as long as I am able to. Yes, I already have quite a few enemies, but also friends!

    Some seven years later, Herzl died at age 44, his death exacerbated by profound exhaustion. “I gave my heart’s blood,” he said dying, “for my people.”
    Autograph Letter Signed, in German, 1 page, octavo, 6 Berggasse, Vienna, November 10, 1896. To “Very Honored Sir.”
    Read More

    all pages and transcript

    Page 1/1

    Page 1 transcript
    VIENNA, 10 XI 1896
    IX., BERGGASSE 6.

    Very honored Sir!

    Your friendly, stimulating letter gave me a great deal of pleasure.

    It is true that I experience moments of fatigue and annoyance because of certain perfidious attacks.  But be reassured: I shall continue the great campaign for as long as I am able to.  Yes, I already have quite a few enemies, but also friends!

    Among those I count you and send you my Zion's greetings.

    Your devoted

    TH HERZL 

    [Translated from German]

    You May Also Be Interested In

    In 1936, As Hitler Closes In, Freud Acts to Help a Colleague's Son Who Has Been Charged With High Treason

    In 1936, As Hitler Closes In, Freud Acts to Help a Colleague's Son Who Has Been Charged With High Treason

    Einstein on the Holocaust: He Never Forgot, Never Forgave

    Einstein on the Holocaust: He Never Forgot, Never Forgave

    Young John F. Kennedy Condemns Harry Truman's Reversal to Support the Partition of Palestine

    Young John F. Kennedy Condemns Harry Truman's Reversal to Support the Partition of Palestine

    From Prison, a Defiant Alfred Dreyfus Writes to his Family Swearing to Clear His Name

    From Prison, a Defiant Alfred Dreyfus Writes to his Family Swearing to Clear His Name

    Historic Context
    Theodor Herzl
    Wikimedia Commons

    Theodor Herzl

    Theodor Herzl (1860 - 1904) was born in Pest (currently the Eastern part of Budapest), Hungary, in 1860 to an assimilated Jewish family. When his elder and only sister Pauline died in 1878, the family moved to Vienna to escape their grief. There, Herzl pursued a law degree before devoting himself to the writing of all forms; plays, essays, tracts, novels, and feuilletons. He also met his wife, Julie Naschauer, whom he married in 1889. The marriage produced three children, though it was an unhappy one. Herzl was often away from his family and was, for the most part, a distant father. He was the Paris correspondent for Central Europe’s most prestigious newspaper, Die Neue Freie Presse, from 1891-1895, where he reported on the Dreyfus trial. That year, he returned to Vienna to accept his promotion to literary editor of the newspaper (a position which he maintained until his death in 1904). Though Theodor Herzl’s Zionism was predated by other Zionist thinkers and movements, he is acknowledged in the Israeli Declaration of Independence as the spiritual father of the State of Israel. Herzl catapulted Zionism onto the world stage as a serious nationalist movement by uniting various Jewish Zionist movements under the umbrella of the Zionist Organization. Furthermore, his reputation as one of Europe’s most distinguished journalists granted him access to many heads of state to plead his cause. Herzl presaged his early death, which happened in July of 1904 of cardiac sclerosis when he was only forty-four years old. He was first buried in Vienna, and later, as his will stipulated, his remains, and those of his family, were reinterred in Israel in 1949 (one year after the State of Israel was declared) on Mount Herzl, which subsequently became the country’s national cemetery, and the resting place of many of its prime ministers.


    Login

    Can't remember

    OR
    Don't have an account? Register here
    Register

    6 characters minimum

    OR
    Already have an account? Log in here
    Password Reset
    You'll get an email with instructions