Tivadar Herzl
To the memory of „Tivadar Herzl „, the Post Administration of Israel, Austria and Hungary jointly issue a special stamp. Tivadar Herzl, the politician and writer who dreamed about the Jewish State was born on May 2nd, 1860 in Budapest, Dohány street where the Jewish Museum and one of the main side wings of the large synagogue is found at present. He moved to Vienna in 1878, where he studied law and literature at the university. In 1884, he received the doctor degree in law; nevertheless, he left the legal profession soon to become a belletrist. A number of his works — articles, short stories and novels — were also published in printed form. Due to his successes in literature, he became a press correspondent in Paris. Following several writings, his work titled “The Jewish State” was published in German in 1896, in which his Zionist program is explained. Herzl convoked the first Zionist Congress in Basel in 1897, which elected him its president. He held this office until his death. He published his novel titled “Ősújország" (approx. ancient-new country) in 1902 which is considered an important milestone of Zionism. Between 1896 and 1904, he toured the whole Europe and, due to his personal magnetism, he gained the sympathy of a number of Jewish communities and leaders and won them over to his ideas. He met rulers and prime ministers and made attempts to convince them on the necessity of the Jewish State. He was the first and presumably the most important representative of the Jewish-Zionist diplomacy, the first Jew of modern times who carried out discussions with the leaders of the world on the Jewish national problem and he managed to be taken seriously by his partners. His political activity overburdened his organism; his sick heart could not cope with the psychical and physical trials required by the mission undertaken by himself. He departed this life on June 3rd, 1904. According to his last will, his mortal remains were taken to Israel and buried in Jerusalem in 1950. In the stamp picture, the portrait of Tivadar Herzl and the title of his work in Hebrew, German and Hungarian appear. The lower border of the stamp leaf is decorated by further legends in German, Hebrew, Hungarian and English: “If you will, it is no fairy tale”. For the purpose of presenting the postage stamp of Israel, Austria and Hungary jointly, a memorial leaf of impressive appearance was prepared, with new stamps provided with special impression. On the graphic of special envelope, memorial leaf and the special impression issued in Hungary, the David star appears as the principal motif.
Short description | To the memory of „Tivadar Herzl „, the Post Administration of Israel, Austria and Hungary jointly issue a special stamp. |
Issue year | 2004 |
Issue time | July 6th, 2004 |
Theme | religion |
Designer | Adth Vanooijen and Péter Nagy |