Nathan Birnbaum (; pseudonyms: "Mathias Acher", "Dr. N. Birner", "Mathias Palme", "Anton Skart", "Theodor Schwarz", and "Pantarhei"; 25 April 1864 – 4 April 1937) was an

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

n writer and journalist,

Jew Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...

ish thinker and

nationalist Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation,Anthony D. Smith, Smith, A ...

. His life had three main phases, representing a progression in his thinking: a

Zionist 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 ...

phase (c. 1883 – c. 1900); a Jewish cultural autonomy phase (c. 1900 – c. 1914), which included the promotion of the

Yiddish Yiddish, historically Judeo-German, is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated in 9th-century Central Europe, and provided the nascent Ashkenazi community with a vernacular based on High German fused with ...

language; and a religious phase (c. 1914–1937), when he turned to

Orthodox Judaism Orthodox Judaism is a collective term for the traditionalist branches of contemporary Judaism. Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Torah, Written and Oral Torah, Oral, as literally revelation, revealed by God in Ju ...

and became staunchly

anti-Zionist Anti-Zionism is opposition to Zionism. Although anti-Zionism is a heterogeneous phenomenon, all its proponents agree that the creation of the State of Israel in 1948, and the movement to create a sovereign Jewish state in the Palestine (region) ...

. He married Rosa Korngut (1869–1934) and they had three sons: Solomon (Salomo) (1891–1989), Menachem (1893–1944), and

Uriel Uriel , Auriel ( ''ʾŪrīʾēl'', " El/God is my Flame"; ''Oúriḗl''; ''Ouriēl''; ; Geʽez and Amharic: or ) or Oriel ( ''ʾÓrīʾēl'', "El/God is my Light") is the name of one of the archangels who is mentioned in Rabbinic tradition ...

(1894–1956).

Early life

Birnbaum was born 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. ...

into an

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural and socio-economic connotations. Its eastern boundary is marked by the Ural Mountain ...

an Jewish family with roots in Austrian Galicia and Hungary. His father, Menachem Mendel Birnbaum, a merchant, hailed from Ropshitz, Galicia (now

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

), and his mother, Miriam Birnbaum (née Seelenfreund), who was born in Carpathian Rus (now

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

), of a family with illustrious rabbinic lineage, had moved as a child to Tarnow, Galicia, where the two met and married. From 1882 to 1886, Birnbaum studied

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...

, philosophy and Near Eastern studies at the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (, ) is a public university, public research university in Vienna, Austria. Founded by Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria, Duke Rudolph IV in 1365, it is the oldest university in the German-speaking world and among the largest ...

Zionism

In 1883, at the age of 19, he founded Kadimah, the first Jewish (Zionist)

student association A students' union or student union, is a student organization present in many colleges, universities, and high schools. In higher education, the students' union is often accorded its own building on the campus, dedicated to social, organization ...

in Vienna, many years before

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 ...

became the leading spokesman of the

Zionist movement Zionism is an ethnocultural nationalist movement that emerged in Europe in the late 19th century that aimed to establish and maintain a national home for the Jewish people, pursued through the colonization of Palestine, a region roughly co ...

. While still a student, he founded and published the periodical ''Selbstemanzipation!'', often written in large part by Birnbaum himself. In it he coined the terms "Zionistic", "Zionist", "Zionism" (1890), and "political Zionism" (1892). Birnbaum played a prominent part in the

First Zionist Congress The First Zionist Congress () was the inaugural congress of the Zionist Organization, Zionist Organization (ZO) held in the Stadtcasino Basel in the city of Basel on August 29–31, 1897. Two hundred and eight delegates from 17 countries and 2 ...

(1897) where he was elected Secretary-General of the Zionist Organization. He was associated with and was one of the most important representatives of the cultural, rather than political, side of Zionism. However, he left the Zionist Organization not long after the Congress. He was unhappy with its negative view of Diaspora Jewry and the transformation of the Zionist ideals into a party machine. His next phase was to advocate Jewish cultural autonomy, or Golus nationalism, concentrating in particular on the Jews of eastern Europe. He advocated for the Jews to be recognized as a people among the other peoples of the empire, with

as their official language. He ran (in Buczacz, eastern Galicia) on behalf of the Jews (and with the support of the local Ukrainians) as candidate for the Austrian parliament. Although he had a majority of the votes, his election was thwarted by corruption of the electoral process by the local Polish faction. He was chief convener of the Conference for the Yiddish Language held in

Czernowitz Chernivtsi (, ; , ;, , see also other names) is a city in southwestern Ukraine on the upper course of the Prut River. Formerly the capital of the historic region of Bukovina, which is now divided between Romania and Ukraine, Chernivtsi serv ...

, August 30 –September 3, 1908. It was the first Yiddish-language conference ever to take place. At the conference, he took the place of his colleague and fellow Yiddish activist

Sholem Aleichem Solomon Naumovich Rabinovich (; May 13, 1916), better known under his pen name Sholem Aleichem (Yiddish language, Yiddish and , also spelled in Yiddish orthography#Reform and standardization, Soviet Yiddish, ; Russian language, Russian and ), ...

who was critically ill. From about 1912 onwards, Birnbaum became increasingly interested in Orthodox Judaism, and he became a fully observant Orthodox Jew in about 1916. He continued to act particularly as an advocate for the Jews of eastern Europe and the Yiddish language. From 1919 to 1922, he was General Secretary of the Agudas Yisroel, a widely-spread and influential Orthodox Jewish organization. He founded the society of the "Olim" (Hebrew for the "Ascenders"), a society with a specific program of action dedicated to the spiritual ascent of the Jewish people.

Later life

Birnbaum, decrying political Zionism, 1919:

And is it at all possible that we, who regard Judaism as our one and only treasure, should ever be able to compete with such expert demagogues and loud self-advertisers as they he Zionists It is surely not necessary that we should. We are, after all, still the mountains and they the grain, and all we need to do is to gather all our forces in a world organization of religious Jews, and it will follow of itself, and without the application of any great political cunning on our part, that we shall have it in our power to prevent what needs to be prevented and to carry out what we have to carry out. But there is no need to first create this world organization of religious Jews. It is already in existence. The world knows its name, it is Agudas Yisroel he Union of Israel

He continued to write and lecture. His most well-known publication of this period of his life was ''Gottes Volk'', "God's People" (1918, in German), translated in 1921 to Yiddish, in 1946 to English as "Confession" (slightly abridged), and in 1948 to Hebrew as "Am Hashem". In 1933, at the time of the

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

rise to power, Birnbaum and part of his family were living in Berlin. They fled together to

Scheveningen Scheveningen () is one of the eight districts of The Hague, Netherlands, as well as a subdistrict () of that city. Scheveningen is a modern seaside resort with a long, sandy beach, an esplanade, a pier, and a lighthouse. The beach is popular ...

in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

, with the help of businessman and diplomat Henri B. van Leeuwen (1888-1973) - Birnbaum, his wife, and their son Menachem, an artist, along with his own family. There, Birnbaum, van Leeuwen, and banker Daniel Wolfe published the anti-Zionist newspaper ''Der Ruf'' ("The Call"). While Menachem and his family were murdered by the Nazis in 1944-45, another son, Solomon (professor of Yiddish and Hebrew

palaeography Palaeography (American and British English spelling differences#ae and oe, UK) or paleography (American and British English spelling differences#ae and oe, US) (ultimately from , , 'old', and , , 'to write') is the study and academic disciplin ...

) and his family managed to flee from Hamburg to England. Their third son, Uriel, an artist and poet, together with his family fled from Vienna to the Netherlands in 1939. Van Leeuwen, also an Orthodox Jew, became a Dutch anti-Zionist leader and

Bergen-Belsen Bergen-Belsen (), or Belsen, was a Nazi concentration camp in what is today Lower Saxony in Northern Germany, northern Germany, southwest of the town of Bergen, Lower Saxony, Bergen near Celle. Originally established as a prisoner of war camp, ...

survivor. Birnbaum died in Scheveningen on 4 April 1937 after a period of severe illness, 3 weeks before his 73rd birthday.

Published works

* "In bondage to our fellow Jews", 1919, from Nathan Birnbaum, ''Series of Essays on Agudas Yisroel'', London, 1944, reproduced in Michael Selzer, editor, ''Zionism Reconsidered'', Macmillan, London, 1970. * '' Selbstemanzipation!'' Periodical. Vienna, 1885–1894. (ed., numerous articles). See above in text. * ''Die jüdische Moderne''; (

Schulze Schulze is a German surname, from the medieval office of Schulze, or village official. Notable people with the surname include: * Andrew Schulze (1896–1982), clergyman and civil rights activist * William August Schulze, rocket scientist recru ...

) Leipzig, 1896, * ''Ausgewählte Schriften zur jüdischen Frage'', 2 Bände, 1910. * ''Den Ostjuden Ihr Recht!''; ( Löwit) Vienna, 1915, * ''Gottes Volk''; (Löwit) Vienna, 1918, * ''Um die Ewigkeit. Jüdische Essays''; ( Welt) Berlin, 1920, * ''Im Dienste der Verheissung'', Frankfurt 1927. * ''Der Aufstieg'' (periodical); Berlin and Vienna, Jan. 1930 - Dec. 1932. * Solomon A. Birnbaum (ed): ''The Bridge'', London, 1956. * ''Confession'', New York, 1946. Translation (abridged) of ''Gottes Volk''. * ''From Freethinker to Believer'' in: Lucy Dawidowicz: ''The Golden Tradition'', New York, 1967. Translation of ''Vom Freigeist zum Glaubigen'', Zürich, 1919. * Shloimy Birnboim (ed) ''Ais Laasys - Giklibene Ksuvim fun Nusn Birnboim'', Lodz, 1939. (Yiddish). Selected essays. * ''Die Freistatt'' (periodical). Eschweiler, 1913–1914. Numerous articles. * ''An'iberblik iber maan lebn'' in: Orlean, Y.L. and Hasofer, N. (eds):''Yubileyum Bukh zum zektsiktn Giburtstug fun Dr. Nusn Birnboim''. Yeshurun, Warsaw, 1925. Yiddish.

References

External links

* The personal papers of Nathan Birnbaum are kept at the
Central Zionist Archives
in Jerusalem. The notation of the record group is A188.

Tshernovits

By Nathan Birnbaum
''The Call''
a digitized newspaper published by Birnbaum, at the

Leo Baeck Institute, New York The Leo Baeck Institute New York (LBI) is a research institute in New York City dedicated to the study of German-Jewish history and culture, founded in 1955. It is one of three independent research centers founded by a group of German-speaking J ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Birnbaum, Nathan 1864 births 1937 deaths Writers from Vienna Anti-Zionist Orthodox Jews Austrian Orthodox Jews 19th-century Austrian people Jewish philosophers 19th-century Austrian philosophers 20th-century Austrian philosophers Baalei teshuva Yiddish-speaking people Delegates to the First World Zionist Congress