The life of Max Nordau

Father of the idea of the State of Israel

Max Simon Nordau (born: Simon Miksa Südfeld), a major character of zionism was born on 29th july 1849 in Pest. He finished the medical school there, but practiced only for two years. He was a journalist for the Pester Lloyd since the age of 18, but also covered from Paris for German and Austrian papers. He became world renowned as an art critic. Several of his sociological novels and plays have been published in more editions. His world famous work the 'Conventional lies in our modern cultural life' was a success also in Hungary.

Eventually Nordau became a Zionist through the Dreyfus incident. Many jews, including Theodore Herzl saw the proof of universal antisemitism in the Dreyfus incident.

He founded the Zionist movement together with Theodore Herzl. He was chairman and co-chairman of several Zionist Congresses. Nordau was the example of the totally assimilated European jew. He married a protestant woman and in spite of his Hungarian background he felt himself belonging to the German culture. He passed away at 23rd January 1923 in Paris. He was reburied in the Trumpeldor cemetery in Tel Aviv in 1926, where a district was named after him in his lifetime. His name is greatly respected in Isreal beside Herzl’s. There is a literary medal named after him.