The Jewish State

The Jewish State (Der Judenstaat) is a work by Austro-Hungarian Jewish political activist Theodor Herzl, first published in 1896. In this influential text, Herzl outlined his vision for the establishment of a sovereign homeland for the Jewish people.

Arguing that antisemitism was an enduring problem in Europe and that assimilation had failed to protect Jewish communities, Herzl proposed that the only viable solution was the creation of a Jewish nation-state where Jews could live freely and securely as a people.

While The Jewish State was initially met with skepticism by some Jewish leaders, it became a cornerstone of the Zionist movement and later influenced the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948. Herzl’s vision and leadership secured his lasting legacy as a central figure in modern Jewish history.

This edition is taken from the work originally published in 1946 by the American Zionist Emergency Council, New York, based on a revised translation published by the Scopus Publishing Company, New York, 1943, which was, in turn, based on the first English-language edition, A Jewish State, translated by Sylvie d'Avigdor in 1896.