Max Nordau

Max Simon Nordau (July 29, 1849 - January 23, 1923), born Simon Maximilian Südfeld, Südfeld Simon Miksa in Pest, Hungary, was a Zionist leader, physician, author, and social critic.

Biography

Nordau was born Simon Maximilian, or Simcha Südfeld on 29th Jult 1849 in Budapest, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. His father was Gabriel Südfeld, a Hebrew poet. His family were religious Orthodox Jews and he attended a Jewish elementary school, then a catholic grammar school, before achieving a medical degree. He worked as a journalist for small newspapers in Budapest, before heading to Berlin in 1873, and changing his name. He soon moved to Paris as a correspondent for Die Neue Freie Presse and it was in Paris that he spent most of his life.

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Nordau was an example of a fully assimilated and acculturated European Jew. He was married to a protestant Christian woman, despite his Hungarian background, he felt affiliated to German culture, writing in an autobiographical sketch

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'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.'

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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 Anti-Semitism.

Related Topics:
Dreyfus Affair - Theodor Herzl - Anti-Semitism

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Nordau went on to paly a major role in the World Zionist Organisation, indeed Nordau's realtive fame certainly helped bring attention to the Zionist movement. He can be credited with giving the organisation a democratic character -see below.

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