''Die Welt'' (, ''"The World"'') was a weekly newspaper founded by

Theodor Herzl Theodor Herzl (2 May 1860 – 3 July 1904) was an Austria-Hungary, Austro-Hungarian Jewish journalist and lawyer who was the father of Types of Zionism, modern political Zionism. Herzl formed the World Zionist Organization, Zionist Organizat ...

in May 1897 in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

. It was designed to promote

Zionism Zionism is an Ethnic nationalism, ethnocultural nationalist movement that emerged in History of Europe#From revolution to imperialism (1789–1914), Europe in the late 19th century that aimed to establish and maintain a national home for the ...

and boldly proclaimed itself to be a ''Judenblatt'' (Jew-paper). From 1897 to 1914 it was the principal organ of the Zionist movement. From 1897 to 1900, the paper was edited by Erwin Rosenberger.

History

''Die Welt'' was published weekly in Herzl's own publishing house. He developed the idea in May 1897, noting in his journal that ''Die Welt'' would be the definitive mass-circulation outlet for the

Zionist Organization The World Zionist Organization (; ''HaHistadrut HaTzionit Ha'Olamit''), or WZO, is a non-governmental organization that promotes Zionism. It was founded as the Zionist Organization (ZO; 1897–1960) at the initiative of Theodor Herzl at the F ...

, and that such a journal was "a necessity that can no longer be ignored."Jess Olsen, "The Dreyfus Affair in Early Zionist Culture", in Maya Balakirsky (ed), ''Revising Dreyfus'', p.319ff. The first issue appeared on 4 June 1897.John D. H. Downing (ed), "Zionist Movement Media pre-1948", ''Encyclopedia of Social Movement'', Sage, 2011, p.568. Shortly before, on 14 May, Herzl wrote to his supporter

Max Nordau Max Simon Nordau (born Simon Maximilian Südfeld; 29 July 1849 – 23 January 1923) was a Hungarian Zionism, Zionist leader, physician, author, and Social criticism, social critic. He was a co-founder of the Zionist Organization together with Theo ...

, joking that "The

Neue Freie Presse ''Neue Freie Presse'' ("New Free Press") was a Viennese newspaper founded by Adolf Werthner together with the journalists Max Friedländer and Michael Etienne on 1 September 1864 after the staff had split from the newspaper ''Die Presse''. It ...

is like my legitimate wife. With ''Die Welt'' I am maintaining a mistress – I can only hope that she will not ruin me". The editorial in the first issue stated that ''Die Welt'' promoted "the reconciling solution to the Jewish question". Production was based initially in Vienna, but later moved to Berlin.

Content

The journal's circulation varied widely, usually reaching at least 3,000 copies sold, and sometimes more than 10,000 copies. ''Die Welt'' had a mix of content. As well as information about the Zionist movement and news of Jewish settlement in Palestine, it reported on general news relevant to Judaism or Zionism, including the spread of anti-Semitism. The Dreyfus Affair was unfolding during its run, and it regularly reported on new developments. It also published an article written by Dreyfus himself on Zionism. The journal was also opposed to assimilationist strands within Western Judaism. It included cultural and philosophical essays and translations from Hebrew and Yiddish literature. It sought articles from non-Jews promoting Zionism as a solution to the "Jewish question", and remained largely uncritically focussed on the positive aspects of the aspiration, tending to ignore objections. Controversy was created by an extremely aggressive article by Nordau attacking the

cultural Zionist Cultural Zionism (, Romanization of Hebrew, translit. ''Tsiyonut ruchanit'', trans. 'Spiritual Zionism') is a strain of Zionism that focused on creating a center in historic Palestine (region), Palestine with its own secular Jewish culture and n ...

Ahad Ha'am Asher Zvi Hirsch Ginsberg (18 August 1856 – 2 January 1927), primarily known by his Hebrew name and pen name Ahad Ha'am (, lit. 'one of the people', ), was a Hebrew journalist and essayist, and one of the foremost pre-state Zionist thinkers. ...

, who had challenged Herzl's vision. Nordau's abusive language, calling Ha'am "crippled, hunchbacked" and the "despised slave of intolerant knout-wielding pogromchiks", caused outrage among Jewish nationalists and Zionists.Jess Olson, ''Nathan Birnbaum and Jewish Modernity'', Stanford University Press, 2013, p.143.

Contributors

*''Editors'': Paul Naschauer (''de jure''); Berthold Feiwel; A. H. Reich; Leopold Kahn; Julius Uprimny; Siegmund Werner;

Nahum Sokolow Nahum ben Joseph Samuel Sokolow ( ''Nachum ben Yosef Shmuel Soqolov'', ; 10 January 1859 – 17 May 1936) was a Jewish-Polish people, Polish writer, translator, and journalist, the fifth President of the World Zionist Organization, editor of ''H ...

; Isidor Schalit; Erwin Rosenberger;

Leon Kellner Leon Kellner (; 17 April 18595 December 1928) was an English lexicographer, grammarian, and Shakespearian scholar. He was also a political activist and a promoter of Zionism. Early life and education Leon Kellner was born in Tarnów, Austrian Em ...

; Isidor Marmorek; Jacob Klatzkin; and

Martin Buber Martin Buber (; , ; ; 8 February 1878 – 13 June 1965) was an Austrian-Israeli philosopher best known for his philosophy of dialogue, a form of existentialism centered on the distinction between the I and Thou, I–Thou relationship and the I� ...

. *''Editorial staff'': S. R. Landau; Siegmund Werner; Erwin Rosenberger; Berthold Feiwel; A. H. Reich; Julius Uprimny; Abraham Coralnik; Julius Berger; Maurice Zobel; N. Golant; Kurt Blumenfeld. *''Executive Director'': Alexander Ritter von Eiss (1897 – October 1902); he was succeeded by Heinrich Polturak.

Other versions

Short-lived Hebrew and Yiddish editions of the journal were published in 1900. In addition, a differently-titled Spanish Zionist magazine (''El Progreso'') was issued by Herzl, but existed only briefly. The journal folded on the outbreak of war in 1914. After the war, Zionist periodicals emerged as successors of ''Die Welt'', including the daily ''Wiener Morgenzeitung'' (1919–1927); the monthly magazine ''Palästina'' (1927–1938); the weekly ''Jüdische Presse'' (1915–1934); and

Robert Stricker Robert Stricker (16 August 1879 – 28 October 1944) was a History of Jews in Austria, Jewish Austrian politician. Born in Brno (present-day Czech Republic), Stricker graduated from high school at the technical college. He entered the service of ...

's ''Die Neue Welt'' (1927–1938).

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Welt 1897 establishments in Austria 1914 disestablishments in Austria-Hungary Defunct newspapers published in Austria Defunct weekly newspapers German-language newspapers published in Austria History of Zionism Defunct Jewish newspapers Newspapers published in Berlin Newspapers published in Vienna Newspapers established in 1897 Publications disestablished in 1914 Theodor Herzl Weekly newspapers published in Austria Zionism in Austria Zionism in Germany Defunct German-language newspapers