Theodor Herzl

Theodor Herzl (Hebrew: תאודור הֶרְצֵל, Theodor Hertzel; Hungarian: Herzl Tivadar; May 2, 1860 – July 3, 1904), born Benjamin Ze'ev Herzl (Hebrew: בִּנְיָמִין זְאֵב הֶרְצֵל), also known in Hebrew as חוֹזֵה הַמְדִינָה, Chozeh HaMedinah (lit. "Visionary of the State") was an Austro-Hungarian journalist, playwright, political activist, and writer. He was one of the fathers of modern political Zionism. Herzl formed the World Zionist Organization and promoted Jewish migration to Palestine in an effort to form a Jewish state (Israel).

Early life

He was born in Pest, the eastern, mostly flat part of Budapest, Kingdom of Hungary (now Hungary), to a secular Jewish family. His father's family were originally from Zimony (today Zemun, Serbia). He was the second child of Jeanette and Jakob Herzl, who were German-speaking, assimilated Jews.

Jakob Herzl (1836–1902), Herzl's father, was a highly successful businessman. Herzl had one sister, Pauline, a year older than he was, who died suddenly on February 7, 1878, of typhus. Theodor lived with his family in a house next to the Dohány Street Synagogue (formerly known as Tabakgasse Synagogue) located in Belváros, the inner city of the historical old town of Pest, in the eastern section of Budapest.