Editing Max Nordau (section)

==Biography==
Simon (Simcha) Maximilian Südfeld (later Max Nordau) was born in [[Pest, Hungary|Pest]], [[Kingdom of Hungary]], then part of the [[Austrian Empire]]. His father, Gabriel Südfeld, was a rabbi,<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.history.ucla.edu/sites/default/files/u184/baldwin/liberalism_nationalism_and_degeneration.pdf |title=Liberalism, Nationalism and Degeneration: The Case of Max Nordau |access-date=2018-08-08 |archive-date=2018-08-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180808104652/http://www.history.ucla.edu/sites/default/files/u184/baldwin/liberalism_nationalism_and_degeneration.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> but earned his livelihood as a Hebrew tutor.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/271723205|title=Issues of Assimilation, Language and Identity in the Lives of Young Max Nordau and Tivadar Herzl|access-date=2018-08-08|archive-date=2018-08-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180808135739/https://www.researchgate.net/publication/271723205_Issues_of_Assimilation_Language_and_Identity_in_the_Lives_of_Young_Max_Nordau_and_Tivadar_Herzl/fulltext/55e6dae908ae3ad5dab2a906/271723205_Issues_of_Assimilation_Language_and_Identity_in_the_Lives_of_Young_Max_Nordau_and_Tivadar_Herzl.pdf?origin=publication_detail|url-status=live}}</ref> As an [[Orthodox Jew]], Nordau attended a Jewish elementary school and earned a medical degree from the [[University of Pest]] in 1872. He then traveled for six years, visiting the principal countries of Europe. He changed his name before going to Berlin in 1873. In 1878 he began the practice of medicine in Budapest. In 1880 he went to Paris.<ref name="ea">{{Americana|wstitle=Nordau, Max Simon|inline=1}}</ref> He worked in Paris as a correspondent for ''[[Neue Freie Presse]]'', and it was in Paris that he spent most of his life.

Before entering the university, he had begun his literary career in Budapest as contributor and dramatic critic for ''Der Zwischenact''. Subsequently, he was an editorial writer and correspondent for several other newspapers. His newspaper writings were collected and furnished the material for his earlier books. He was a disciple of [[Cesare Lombroso]].<ref name=ea />

Nordau was an example of a fully assimilated and acculturated European Jew. Despite being raised religious, Nordau was an agnostic.<ref>{{cite book|title=Triumph of Survival: The Story of the Jews in the Modern Era 1650-1990|year=1990|publisher=Mesorah Publications|isbn=9780899064987|page=238|author=Berel Wein|quote=Like Herzl, Nordau was an agnostic, if not an atheist.}}</ref> He married a Christian woman of Danish origin.<ref>[https://www.haaretz.com/1.4886400 Unrequited love] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181125162832/https://www.haaretz.com/1.4886400 |date=2018-11-25}}, ''[[Haaretz]]''</ref> Despite his [[History of the Jews in Hungary|Hungarian]] background, he felt affiliated to German culture, writing in an autobiographical sketch "When I reached the age of fifteen, I left the Jewish way of life and the study of the [[Torah]] ... Judaism remained a mere memory and since then I have always felt as a German and as a German only." Max Nordau was the father of the painter [[Maxa Nordau]] (1897–1993).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.artcult.fr/_Dictionnaire+des+peintres+juifs/Catalogue/art-20-1306696.htm?Groupe=2&Artiste=N%25 |title=Dictionnaire des peintres juifs |trans-title=Dictionary of Jewish painters |publisher=ArtCult |access-date=16 September 2014 |archive-date=11 May 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150511053244/http://www.artcult.fr/_Dictionnaire+des+peintres+juifs/Catalogue/art-20-1306696.htm?Groupe=2&Artiste=N%25 |url-status=live}}</ref>

Nordau's conversion to Zionism was eventually triggered by the [[Dreyfus affair]]. Many Jews, amongst them [[Theodor Herzl]], saw in the Dreyfus affair evidence of the universality of [[antisemitism]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/54845739.pdf |title=Max Nordau and the Making of Racial Zionism |access-date=2018-08-08 |archive-date=2018-08-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180808141337/https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/54845739.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref>

Nordau went on to play a major role in the [[World Zionist Organization]]; indeed Nordau's relative fame certainly helped bring attention to the Zionist movement. He can be credited with giving the organization a democratic character.

In December 1903 a 24-year-old Russian student attempted to assassinate Nordau at a Parisian [[Hanukkah]] celebration. The attacker shouted "Death to the East African" as he fired his gun.<ref>Desmond Stewart (1974) ''Theodor Herzl: Artist and Politician''. Hamish Hamilton SBN 241 02447 1 p.322</ref><ref name=ea />

When World War I broke out, as a native of Hungary he was accused of German sympathies. He denied the charge and afterward went to reside in [[Madrid]].