“Was ich den Juden war, wird eine kommende Zeit besser beurteilen …” - Myth and Memory at Theodor Herzl’s Original Gravesite in Vienna Cover Image

“Was ich den Juden war, wird eine kommende Zeit besser beurteilen …” - Myth and Memory at Theodor Herzl’s Original Gravesite in Vienna
“Was ich den Juden war, wird eine kommende Zeit besser beurteilen …” - Myth and Memory at Theodor Herzl’s Original Gravesite in Vienna

Author(s): Tim Corbett
Subject(s): Jewish studies, Museology & Heritage Studies, Recent History (1900 till today)
Published by: Wiener Wiesenthal Institut für Holocaust-Studien
Keywords: Theodor Herzl; gravesite; legacy of Herzl; Zionism; Jerusalem; lieu de mémoire;

Summary/Abstract: Theodor Herzl is mostly remembered as the founder of the Zionist movement and a significant forebear of the State of Israel, where his memory thrives today. This article posits Herzl’s original gravesite in Döbling, Vienna, as instrumental to the construction of Herzl’s legacy through the first part of the twentieth century, when it was used by Jewish community functionaries and Zionist organisations to mobilise a variety of political agendas. By contrast to Herzl’s new burial site in Jerusalem, the now empty grave in Döbling constitutes a powerful alternative lieu de mémoire, a counterbalance to the manner in which Herzl’s life and memory are conceived in Israel.

  • Issue Year: 3/2016
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 64-88
  • Page Count: 25
  • Language: English