Herzl was born in Hungary

He received Jewish education

He lived in Vienne and studied law.

Jews had a very hard time at that time

Pogroms were in the eastern part of Europe.

People had to live in small towns and could not leave them without permission

Herzl became a lawyer and a writer

He was very successful in writing for the newspapers, and writing plays, books and poetry

Herzl lived in Paris and worked as a reporter. He covered the story of Captain Dreyfus. Dreyfus was a Jewish captain in French army who was accused of being a spy. He was sent to prison just because he was a Jew.

This story shocked Herzl and he started to think how to help Jewish people. He wrote his ideas in a book which he called “The Jewish State”. He wanted Jewish people to come back to his homeland.

Jews from all over the world heard about that idea. The gathering occurred in Basle Switzerland. This gathering is known as the First “Zionist Congress”

Herzl had to persuade many famous people to help.

Herzl knew that our country had to be highly developed agriculturally and industrially

Herzl worked hard. All this hard work made him tired and ill. When he was only forty-four years old he died. But the work he had done was successful. We have a state.