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NEW VOLUME OF HERZL'S DIARIES PUBLISHED ON THE ANNIVERSARY OF HIS DEATH (20TH TAMMUZ) ISRAEL The third volume of the diaries of Theodore Herzl has recently been published by the Zionist Publishing House and the Bialik Institute, covering the period between the years 1902-1904. The main topics in the book are Herzl's contacts with the British government, the Sinai-El Arish plan, contacts with the Russian government in the wake of the Kischinev pogrom, the East African plan and efforts to gain the support of the Pope, the King of Italy and the Austrian foreign minister for Zionist aspirations. The diary concludes two weeks before Herzl's death in July 1904, at the age of 44. The first two volumes of the diaries deal with the period between 1895-1902. The main subjects in the first volume are: Herzl's attempts to convince others of the plan to establish a Jewish state, the foundation of the Zionist movement, the first Zionist Congress. The second volume deals with his visit to Eretz Israel, his meetings with the German Kaiser, the establishment of the Otzar Hityashvut Hayehudim, his meeting with the Sultan of Turkey and the Emirates, which failed to achieve a charter for Jewish settlement in Eretz Israel. This is a new translation of the diaries (undertaken by Yosef Wenkert) from the German, and is the first time that an edition is being published with detailed footnotes and no omissions (which in the past were intended to protect people still alive). The notes were written by Dr. Michael Hyman. In the third volume explanations have been added about the Zionist movement's institutions and their establishment, as well as a detailed table of dates during Herzl's lifetime. The diary is called "The Jewish Issue", a term used by Herzl, who regarded it as the story of his work in the service of the Jewish people, and clearly intended the diaries to be a historic document for future generations. |
