Nathan Birnbaum

Nathan Birnbaum (16 May 1864 – 2 April 1937), a.k.a. Mathias Acher, or Mathias Ascher, was an Austrian Jewish philosopher, said to have formed the Kadimah, a Jewish nationalist organisation. He is also credited with coining the terms Zionist and Zionism.

Related Topics:
16 May - 1864 - 2 April - 1937 - Austria - Jew - Philosopher - Kadimah - Nationalist - Zionism

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He was born in Vienna, the son of Jews from Eastern Europe. After a traditional religious education, he became interested during his Gymnasium education in the prospect of emigration to Palestine. From 1882 to 1885 he studied law at the University of Vienna, receiving staying on to study philosophy and Orientalism.

Related Topics:
Vienna - Eastern Europe - Gymnasium - Palestine - 1882 - 1885 - Law - University of Vienna - Orientalism

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In 1890 he married Rosa Korngut (1869-1934). They had three sons: Solomon Birnbaum (1891-1989), Menachem Birnbaum (1893-1944), and Uriel Birnbaum (1894-1956). In 1933, at the time of the Nazi rise to power, Birnbaum emigrated with his family to the Netherlands; in 1937 he died there, in Scheveningen, after a period of severe illness.

Related Topics:
1890 - 1869 - 1934 - Solomon Birnbaum - 1891 - 1989 - Menachem Birnbaum - 1893 - 1944 - Uriel Birnbaum - 1894 - 1956 - Nazi - Netherlands - 1937 - Scheveningen

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Until his death, Birnbaum continued as a journalist, but turned away from Zionism. Birnbaum, in his youth, had been associated with Theodor Herzl and was one of the most important representatives of the cultural variant of Zionism, which promoted the settlement of Palestine without specific promotion of a Jewish state, and only through Chaim Weizmann was he drawn into political Zionism. Birnbaum continued, however, to speficically advocate for Eastern European Judaism, Hassidic culture and the Yiddish language. For this reason, he was among those who initiated the first Conference for the Yiddish Language, in Czernowitz. Later Birnbaum, who had at various points adopted almost every possible religious stance including atheism, subscribed to Orthodox Judaism and became General Secretary of Agudath Yisroel.

Related Topics:
Theodor Herzl - Jewish state - Chaim Weizmann - Hassidic - Czernowitz - Atheism - Orthodox Judaism - Agudath Yisroel

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