There were 22 Zionist Congresses before the State of Israel was proclaimed in 1948. The Third Zionist Congress was held in Basel, Switzerland from Aug. 15 to 18, 1899. This is a guest card to attend the Congress.
The Third Congress was the first held since a delegation of Zionists led by Theodor Herzl met with Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany in Constantinople, in Jerusalem, and at Mikve Israel (an agricultural school near present-day Holon, Israel) in October/November 1898. These meetings produced no practical results, but the fact that the Zionist case was made before the head of a great world power was of immense symbolic value.
There was a great debate at the Congress between the “practical” Zionists who sought Congress’ approval to establish communities in the Land of Israel before a charter was obtained from Turkey for a Jewish homeland, and the “political” Zionists led by Herzl who believed obtaining the charter was the pre-condition to those activities.
Herzl opened the Congress with these words: “A people is contending here for its existence, its honour and its freedom. It desires to emerge from darkness into sunshine.”
He then said there are three ways the Jewish people could go:
“The first is the apathetic submission to insult and misery. The other is a revolt against a step-motherly society. Ours is the third way: To soar upwards to a higher degree of civilization, to promote the general welfare, to prepare new paths for intercourse among the nations, and to seek an awakening for social justice.”
The third way is Zionism. Israel’s detractors are maliciously defining Zionism in the most negative ways possible. We should always remember what Zionism really is, as stated by the movement’s founder.
The third way is also the direction that Israel needs to take. Herzl’s words are equally relevant to preserving the Jewish state as they were to its creation.
For a complete photo gallery of Third Zionist Congress items in the Treasure Trove, visit herzlcollection.com/basel-1899.
