August 28, 1898
The Second Zionist Congress convenes in Basel, Switzerland. Some 400 delegates, including Theodor Herzl’s father, participate in the Second Congress, nearly double the number from the First Congress, held in Basel the previous year. This is also the first Congress attended by Chaim Weizmann.
The Second Zionist Congress lays the foundation for the creation of the Jewish Colonial Trust, which serves as the main financial arm of the movement in the development of Palestine. Leo Motzkin reports on his trip to Palestine and the status of the settlements there.
Herzl’s opening speech is marked by a call for an end to the opposition barriers to Zionism that had been created by some Jewish leaders:
Until now we have refused out of brotherly consideration to bring this contrast to the fore. We can no longer stand by while agitation against Zion is carried out on the Jewish religious communities. It is an impossible, contradictory situation, and we must put an end to it. Wherever the leaders of the communities are not with us, there must begin a fight for elections. Men who have the standing and the capacity to occupy these honorable posts and who are at one with us and our views must be elected to the leadership and inducted into our centers in the name of our national idea. The authority of the religious community, the means which it commands, and the persons who constitute it must not be directed against the aspirations of the people. … Our next objective is therefore the conquest of the communities.