Editing Dreyfus affair (section)

=== Zionism ===
[[File:Theodor Herzl retouched.jpg|thumbnail|right|upright|[[Theodor Herzl]] created the [[Zionist Congress]] after the Dreyfus affair.]]

The shock of the Dreyfus affair also affected the Zionist movement "which found fertile ground for its emergence".<ref>[[Benny Morris]], ''Victims: History revisits the Arab–Zionist conflict'', 2003, pp. 29, 34.</ref>

The Austro-Hungarian journalist [[Theodor Herzl]] appeared profoundly moved by the Dreyfus affair, which followed his debut as a correspondent for the ''[[Neue Freie Presse]]'' of Vienna and was present at the degradation of Dreyfus in 1895. "The catalyst for Herzl's 'conversion' is usually seen as the Dreyfus affair, which made him realise the impossibility of Jewish existence in Europe",<ref>Beller, Steven (1991). ''Herzl''. New York: Grove Weidenfeld.</ref> although some scholars believe that Herzl may have exaggerated the influence that the Dreyfus affair had on him.<ref>Cohn, Henry J., [https://www.jstor.org/stable/4466575 "Theodor Herzl's Conversion to Zionism"], ''Jewish Social Studies'', Vol. 32, No. 2 (Apr. 1970), pp. 101–110, Indiana University Press.</ref><ref>Hoare, Liam, [http://forward.com/the-assimilator/193316/did-dreyfus-affair-really-inspire-herzl/ "Did Dreyfus Affair Really Inspire Herzl?]" ''The Forward'', 26 February 2014.</ref> Before the wave of antisemitism that accompanied the degradation Herzl was "convinced of the need to resolve the [[Jewish question]]", which became "an obsession for him". In ''[[Der Judenstaat]]'' (State of the Jews), he considered that:
{{blockquote|[I]f France – bastion of emancipation, progress and universal socialism – [can] get caught up in a maelstrom of antisemitism and let the Parisian crowd chant 'Kill the Jews!' Where can they be safe once again – if not in their own country? Assimilation does not solve the problem because the Gentile world will not allow it as the Dreyfus affair has so clearly demonstrated.<ref>''Dictionary of the Dreyfus affair'', Nichol, entry "Theodor Herzl and Zionism", p. 505. {{in lang|fr}}</ref>}}

Herzl's shock was great, for, having lived his youth in [[History of the Jews in Austria|Austria]], an antisemitic country, he chose to live in France for its [[secular humanism|humanist]] image, which made it appear a shelter from extremist excess. He had originally been a fanatic supporter for assimilation of Jews into European Gentile society. The Dreyfus affair shook Herzl's view on the world, and he became completely enveloped in a tiny movement calling for the restoration of a Jewish State within the biblical homeland in the [[Land of Israel]]. Herzl quickly took charge in leading the movement.

He organized on 29 August 1897, the [[First Zionist Congress]] in [[Basel]] and is considered the "inventor of Zionism as a real political movement".{{attribution needed|date=January 2018}} Theodor Herzl wrote in his diary (1 September 1897):

{{blockquote|Were I to sum up the Basel Congress in a word – which I shall guard against pronouncing publicly – it would be this: At Basel I founded the [[Jewish State]]. If I said this out loud today, I would be answered by universal laughter. Perhaps in five years, and certainly in fifty, everyone will recognize this.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.herzl.org/english/Article.aspx?Item=520&Section=491 |title=A Small Country with a Congress |publisher=[[Herzl Museum]] |access-date=2013-11-11 |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131111090646/http://www.herzl.org/english/Article.aspx?Item=520&Section=491 |archive-date=11 November 2013 }}</ref>}}

The Dreyfus affair also marked a turning point in the lives of many Jews from Western and Central Europe, as the pogroms of 1881–1882 had done for the Jews of Eastern Europe, as many Jews had believed that they were Frenchmen first. Yet Jews, despite the state-sanctioned efforts of the [[Jewish emancipation|emancipation movement]], were never truly accepted into society and were often deemed aliens and outsiders,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.un.org/en/holocaustremembrance/docs/pdf/Volume%20I/The_History_of_the_Jews_in_Europe.pdf|title=The History of the Jews in Europe during the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries|last=Richarz|first=Monika|website=un.org|access-date=23 July 2018}}</ref> even when they showed extreme devotion by fighting courageously in the wars of their respective countries.<ref name=":0" />