Page 43 - Discover Israel Magazine - 2015 Edition
P. 43
Fiberglass models of delegates in a recreation of the Basel auditorium evoke the mood of the First Zionist Congress
The helmet Herzl wore to his meeting with Kaiser
Wilhelm II. On left: A model of Theodor Herzl in his
famous balcony pose. Photographs courtesy of the
Herzl Center
assimilated family belonged) dismisses the Basel Municipal Casino. The excitement of meeting with the Kaiser, to the ornate silver
whole idea as fantasy and worries “what the the moment is heightened as the audience candelabras from the family home. A video
screen presents the actor portraying Herzl,
gentiles will think.” takes seats among other “delegates”
represented by ghostly full-size statues, lit shortly before his death at 44 in 1905, as
The desk and the study of Herzl’s Vienna from within. he writes of his exhaustion and concern
home, where he wrote his novel about the over the state of his dream. Another screen
imaginary Jewish state called “Altneuland” – As the actor rehearses one of Herzl’s famous shows moving original newsreels of Herzl’s
the Old-New Land – are also on display at statements, “In Basel, I founded the Jewish remains being brought from Vienna to Mount
the center. They were brought to Palestine State,” visitors learn that the irst Zionist Herzl in 1950 for reburial.
by Zionist activists from Vienna who made Congress ended with the 37-year-old leader
aliyah in 1928, and were a major tourism anxious about the enormity of fulilling his In the inal room, the actor, now wearing
draw in Jerusalem of the 1950s. promises to the delegates. Herzl is then
Herzl’s trademark, black beard, presents
shown meeting with a hefty Turkish potentate, in fast-moving ilm clips the realities Herzl
Another room is a mock-up of the hall in supposedly Abdul Hamid II, and the haughty never bargained for: the Holocaust, Israel’s
Basel, Switzerland, where the First Zionist Kaiser Wilhelm (to whom Herzl gained
constant state of war, its raucous politics
Congress was held in 1897. Rows of access through a network of middlemen he and social problems. At the same time, this
wooden chairs marked with the names of exhausted his family fortune to pay). Later, scene chronicles Israel’s achievements,
the leaders who occupied them, and a high he is seen meeting with the British Colonial some of which are also not quite what Herzl
ceiling complete with a chandelier, invoke Secretary Joseph Chamberlain, who ofered could have envisioned, such as wild pop
the atmosphere of those days. As our actor him a choice of Cyprus, Sinai and Uganda as concerts and non-stop nightlife. Israel’s
attempts to become more Herzl-like under the site of a future Jewish state. achievements remain paramount, however:
the tutelage of the director and historian,
the audience is presented with the idea The presentation shows rare footage of the Herzl tells the audience we are in the midst
that Herzl, who became a journalist and 1905 Kishinev pogrom that shocked Herzl of a miracle, with “a Yemenite goldsmith
and a rug-weaver from Iran” exporting
author of light dramas after he realized anti- into promoting an urgent solution for the
high-tech medical equipment and assisting
Semitism would prevent his advancement Jewish people in Uganda. The chorus of
in his original career as a jurist, was the boos echoing around the hall in response is developing countries. The audience leaves
“playwright, actor and director” of the Basel eerily realistic. with a sense of mission: “I wrote the book,
meeting. His taste for the dramatic dictated but you created the country,” a task, Herzl
a last-minute change of venue from a beer The next room contains a display of artifacts, emphasizes, that was “impossible without
faith.”
hall basement to the ornate auditorium of the from the pith helmet Herzl wore to his
The reconstruction of Herzl’s original study at the Herzl Museum in Jerusalem
The Herzl Museum is open Sunday-Wednesday: 8:30
a.m. - 6:00 p.m., Thursday: 8:30 a.m. - 7:00 p.m., and
Friday: 8:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. Tel: +972-2-632-1515.
E-mail: museum@wzo.org.il. The Herzl Center at the
museum ofers a variety of educational programs
and tours. Programs and tours must be arranged in
advance.
43
DISCOVER ISRAEL
The helmet Herzl wore to his meeting with Kaiser
Wilhelm II. On left: A model of Theodor Herzl in his
famous balcony pose. Photographs courtesy of the
Herzl Center
assimilated family belonged) dismisses the Basel Municipal Casino. The excitement of meeting with the Kaiser, to the ornate silver
whole idea as fantasy and worries “what the the moment is heightened as the audience candelabras from the family home. A video
screen presents the actor portraying Herzl,
gentiles will think.” takes seats among other “delegates”
represented by ghostly full-size statues, lit shortly before his death at 44 in 1905, as
The desk and the study of Herzl’s Vienna from within. he writes of his exhaustion and concern
home, where he wrote his novel about the over the state of his dream. Another screen
imaginary Jewish state called “Altneuland” – As the actor rehearses one of Herzl’s famous shows moving original newsreels of Herzl’s
the Old-New Land – are also on display at statements, “In Basel, I founded the Jewish remains being brought from Vienna to Mount
the center. They were brought to Palestine State,” visitors learn that the irst Zionist Herzl in 1950 for reburial.
by Zionist activists from Vienna who made Congress ended with the 37-year-old leader
aliyah in 1928, and were a major tourism anxious about the enormity of fulilling his In the inal room, the actor, now wearing
draw in Jerusalem of the 1950s. promises to the delegates. Herzl is then
Herzl’s trademark, black beard, presents
shown meeting with a hefty Turkish potentate, in fast-moving ilm clips the realities Herzl
Another room is a mock-up of the hall in supposedly Abdul Hamid II, and the haughty never bargained for: the Holocaust, Israel’s
Basel, Switzerland, where the First Zionist Kaiser Wilhelm (to whom Herzl gained
constant state of war, its raucous politics
Congress was held in 1897. Rows of access through a network of middlemen he and social problems. At the same time, this
wooden chairs marked with the names of exhausted his family fortune to pay). Later, scene chronicles Israel’s achievements,
the leaders who occupied them, and a high he is seen meeting with the British Colonial some of which are also not quite what Herzl
ceiling complete with a chandelier, invoke Secretary Joseph Chamberlain, who ofered could have envisioned, such as wild pop
the atmosphere of those days. As our actor him a choice of Cyprus, Sinai and Uganda as concerts and non-stop nightlife. Israel’s
attempts to become more Herzl-like under the site of a future Jewish state. achievements remain paramount, however:
the tutelage of the director and historian,
the audience is presented with the idea The presentation shows rare footage of the Herzl tells the audience we are in the midst
that Herzl, who became a journalist and 1905 Kishinev pogrom that shocked Herzl of a miracle, with “a Yemenite goldsmith
and a rug-weaver from Iran” exporting
author of light dramas after he realized anti- into promoting an urgent solution for the
high-tech medical equipment and assisting
Semitism would prevent his advancement Jewish people in Uganda. The chorus of
in his original career as a jurist, was the boos echoing around the hall in response is developing countries. The audience leaves
“playwright, actor and director” of the Basel eerily realistic. with a sense of mission: “I wrote the book,
meeting. His taste for the dramatic dictated but you created the country,” a task, Herzl
a last-minute change of venue from a beer The next room contains a display of artifacts, emphasizes, that was “impossible without
faith.”
hall basement to the ornate auditorium of the from the pith helmet Herzl wore to his
The reconstruction of Herzl’s original study at the Herzl Museum in Jerusalem
The Herzl Museum is open Sunday-Wednesday: 8:30
a.m. - 6:00 p.m., Thursday: 8:30 a.m. - 7:00 p.m., and
Friday: 8:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. Tel: +972-2-632-1515.
E-mail: museum@wzo.org.il. The Herzl Center at the
museum ofers a variety of educational programs
and tours. Programs and tours must be arranged in
advance.
43
DISCOVER ISRAEL
