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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. July 29 is the 210th day (211th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 155 days remaining. ...
1849 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ...
January 23 is the 23rd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ...
1923 was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ...
Pest (in Slovak Pešť, pron. ...
For other meanings, please see Zionism (disambiguation) Zionism is a Jewish political movement, developed in response to 19th century anti-Semitism, which maintains that the Jewish people are entitled to a national homeland in the land of Zion (a synecdoche for the Land of Israel, also known as the region...
He was a co-founder of the World Zionist Organization together with Theodor Herzl, and president or vice president of several Zionist congresses. The World Zionist Organization [WZO] was founded as the Zionist Organization [ZO] on September 3, 1897, at the First Zionist Congress held in Basel, Switzerland. ...
Theodor Herzl, in his middle age. ...
As a social critic, he wrote a number of controversial books, including The Conventional Lies of Our Civilisation (1883), Degeneration (1892), and Paradoxes (1896). Although not his most popular or succesful work whilst alive, the book most often remebered and cited today is Degeneration. 1883 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ...
1892 was a leap year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ...
1896 was a leap year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ...
Image File history File links Picture of Max Nordau http://www. ...
Image File history File links Picture of Max Nordau http://www. ...
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.
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 affilited to German culture, writing in an autobiographical sketch
'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.'
Nordau's conversion to Zionism was eventually triggered by the Dreyfus Affair. Many Jews, amongst them Theodor Herzlsaw in the Dreyfus Affair evidence of the universality of Anti-Semitism. Alfred Dreyfus in an army uniform, wearing a mustache. ...
Theodor Herzl, in his middle age. ...
The Eternal Jew: 1937 German poster. ...
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. The World Zionist Organization [WZO] was founded as the Zionist Organization [ZO] on September 3, 1897, at the First Zionist Congress held in Basel, Switzerland. ...
Degeneration Nordau's major work Degeneration- Entartung in its original German, is an essentially philistine and moralistic attack on so-called degenerate art, as well as a polemic against the effects of a range of the rising social phenomena of the period, such as rapid urbanisation and its perceived effects on the human body. Philistinism is a derogatory term used to describe a particular attitude or set of values. ...
The Magdeburger Ehrenmal (Magdeburg cenotaph) created by Ernst Barlach was declared to be degenerate art due to the deformity and emaciation of the figures which corresponded to Nordaus theory of the connection between mental and physical degeneration. ...
Nordau begins his work with a 'medical' and social interpretation of what has created this Degeneration in society. Nordau divides his study into five books. In the first book fin-de-siècle, Nordau identifies the phenomenon of fin de siècle in Europe. He sees it as first being recognises, though not originating, in France, 'a contempt for the traditional views of custom and morality.' He sees it as a sort of decadence, a world-weariness, and the wilful rejection of the moral boundaries governing the world. He uses examples from French periodicals and books in French to show how it has effected all elements of society. Nordau accuses also society of becoming more and more inclined to imitate what they see in art. He sees in the fashionable society of Paris and London, 'Every single figure strives visibly by some singularity in outline, set, cut or colour, to startle attention violently, and imperiously to detain it. Each one wishes to create a strong nervous excitement, no matter whether agreeably or disagreeably.' Fin de siècle is French for End of the Century. The term turn-of-the-century is sometimes used as a synonym, but is more neutral (lacking some or most of the connotations described below), and can include the first years of a new century. ...
The Eiffel Tower has become a symbol of Paris throughout the world. ...
The Clock Tower of the Palace of Westminster, which contains Big Ben London is the capital city of the United Kingdom and of England. ...
Nordau establishes the cultural phenomenon of fin de siècle in the opening pages, but he quickly moves to the viewpoint of a physician and identifies what he sees as an illness. 'In the fin-de-siècle disposition, in the tendencies of contemporary art and poetry, in the life and conduct of men who write mystic, symbolic and 'decadent' works and the attitude taken by their admirers in the tastes and aesthetic instincts of fashionable society, the confluence of two well-defined conditions of disease, with which he [the physician] is quite familiar, viz. degeneration and hysteria, of which the minor stages are designated as neurasthenia.'
The book deals with numerous case studies of various artists, writers and thinkers (Wilde,Ibsen, Wagner and Nietzche to name but a few) but its basic premise remains that society and human beings themselves are degenerating, and this degeneration is both reflected in and influenced by art. Henrik Johan Ibsen (March 20, 1828–May 23, 1906) was an extremely influential Norwegian playwright who was largely responsible for the rise of the modern realistic drama. ...
Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner (May 22, 1813 in Leipzig – February 13, 1883 in Venice) was next to J.S.Bach and Ludwig v. ...
Friedrich Nietzsche, 1882 Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (October 15, 1844 - August 25, 1900) was a highly influential German philosopher. ...
The Politcs of Degeneration Nordau did not himself coin the expression or the idea of Entartung, it had been steadily growing in use in German speaking countries during the 19th Century. The book reflects views on a degenerating society held by many people in Europe at the time, especially through-out the Austro-Hungarian Empire. By the early 20th Century, the idea that society was degenerating, and that this degeneration was influenced by art, led to somewhat hysterical backlashes, as evidenced by the conviction of Austrian artist Egon Schiele for "distributing pornography to minors". Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ...
Official languages Latin, German, Hungarian Established church Roman Catholic Capital & Largest City Vienna pop. ...
(19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999 in the...
Egon Schiele, Self-portrait 1911 Egon Schiele (June 12, 1890 – October 30, 1918), an Austrian painter, son of Marie and Adolph Schiele, was born in Tulln, a small town on the Danube. ...
This cultural construct, which could be used to describe anything which deviated in any way from accepted norms, was given legitimacy by the pseudo-scientific branch of medicine 'psycho-physiognomy.' Degeneration was accepted as a serious medical term. Not until Sigmund Freud, and the ushering in of a new age of psychoanalysis, was this idea seriously contested. Sigmund Freud remarked rather dryly in 1905 in his Three Essays on Sexuality, "It may well be asked whether an attribution of 'degeneracy' is of any value or adds anything to our knowledge." Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud (May 6, 1856 – September 23, 1939) was an Austrian psychiatrist and the founder of the psychoanalytic school of psychology, a movement that popularized the theory that unconscious motives control much behavior. ...
It would certainly be a mistake to see the views expressed in Nordau's work as being proto-fascist, despite the obvious similarities between Nordau's view of modern art and that of the Nazis, who also used the expression Entartete Kunst or Degenerate Art. Although Nordau's work certainly reflect a reactionary strain of European thought, he also condemns the rising Anti-Semitism of the late 19th Century as a product of degeneration. Fascism (in Italian, fascismo), capitalized, was the authoritarian political movement which ruled Italy from 1922 to 1943 under the leadership of Benito Mussolini. ...
The Eternal Jew: 1937 German poster. ...
Although it is perhaps fair to see his attitude towards art as philistine, his views of wider social phenomena can be seen in a more sympathetic light when taken in the context of the time. Europe was undergoing unprecedented technological progress and social upheaval. The rapid industrialisation and accompanying urbanisation was breaking down many of the traditional structures of society.
Nordau's views were in many ways more like those of an 18th Century thinker, a belief in Reason, Progress, and more traditional, classical rules governing art and literature. The irrationalism and ammorality of philosophers such as Nietzche or the flagrant anti-Semitism of Wagner, was seen as proof that society was in danger of returning to an era before the Enlightenment. In philosophy, reason or rationality (adjective can be either rational or reasonable, each giving a slightly different meaning, and both of which are also related to the word logical) describes a type of thought or aspect of thought, especially abstract thought, which is felt to be especially human. ...
Progress can refer to: The idea of a process in which societies or individuals become better or more modern (technologically and/or socially). ...
The philosophical movements of irrationalism and aestheticism were a cultural reaction against positivism that took place during the early twentieth century. ...
Friedrich Nietzsche, 1882 Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (October 15, 1844 - August 25, 1900) was a highly influential German philosopher. ...
The Eternal Jew: 1937 German poster. ...
For the concept in mysticism, philosophy and psychology, see Enlightenment (concept) For the Hindu religious concept of enlightenment, see moksha For the Buddhist religious concept, see Bodhi, Satori For the Yoga concept of enlightenment, see Yogic Enlightenment For the period in European history, The Age of Enlightenment For the corresponding...
Nordau the Zionist
The Dreyfus Affair Nordau's conversion to Zionism is in many ways typical of the rise of Zionism amongst Western European Jewry. As with Theodor Herzl, the Dreyfus Affair beginning in 1893 was central to Nordau's conviction that Zionism was now necessary. Herzl's views were formed during his time in France where he recognised the universality of anti-Semitism; the Dreyfus Affair cemented his belief in the failure of assimilation. Nordau also witnessed the Paris mob outside the École Militaire crying "à morts les juifs!" Theodor Herzl, in his middle age. ...
Alfred Dreyfus in an army uniform, wearing a mustache. ...
His role of friend and advisor to Herzl, who was working as the correspondent for the Vienna Neue Freie Presse, began here in Paris. This trial went beyond a miscarriage of justice and in Herzl's words "contained the wish of the overwhelming majority in France, to damn a Jew, and in this one Jew, all Jews." Whether or not the anti-semitism manifested in France during the Dreyfus Affair was indicative of the majority of the French or simply a very vocal minority is open to debate. However the very fact that such sentiment had manisfested itself in France was particularly significant. This was the country often seen as the model of the modern enlightened age, that had given the Europe the Great Revolution and consequently the Jewish Emancipation. The Eternal Jew: 1937 German poster. ...
Alfred Dreyfus in an army uniform, wearing a mustache. ...
For the period in European history, The Age of Enlightenment For the corresponding movement in the European Jewish community, see Haskalah. ...
Dates of Jewish emancipation. ...
The Failure of Emancipation Nordau's work as a critic of European civilisation and where it was heading certainly contributed to his eventual role in Zionism. One of the central tenets of Nordau's beliefs was evolution, in all things, and he concluded that Emancipation was not born out of evolution. French rationalism of the 18th century, based on pure logic, demanded that all men be treated equally. Nordau saw in Jewish Emancipation the result of 'a regular equation: Every man is born with certain rights; the Jews are human beings, consequently the Jews are born to own the rights of man.' This Emancipation was written in the statute books of Europe, but contrasted with popular social consciousness. It was this which explained the apparent contradiction of equality before the law, but the existence of anti-Semitism, and in particular 'racial' anti-Semitism, no longer based on old religious bigotry. Nordau cited England as an exception to this continental anti-Semitism that proved the rule. "In England, Emancipation is a truth…It had already been completed in the heart before legislation expressly confirmed it." Only if Emancipation came from changes within society, as opposed to abstract ideas imposed upon society, could it be a reality. This rejection of the accepted idea of Emancipation was not based entirely on the Dreyfus Affair. It had manifested itself much earlier in Die Konventionellen Lügen der Kulturmenschheit and runs through his denouncing of 'degenerate' and 'lunatic' anti-Semitism in Die Entartung.
Nordau was central to the Zionist Congresses which played such a vital part in shaping what Zionism would become. Herzl had favoured the idea of a Jewish newspaper and an elitist "Society of Jews" to spread the ideas of Zionism. It was Nordau, convinced that Zionism had to at least appear democratic, despite the impossibility of representing all Jewish groups, and who persuaded Herzl of the need for an assembly. This appearance of democracy certainly helped counter accusations that the "Zionists represented no one but themselves." There would be eleven such Congresses in all, the first, which Nordau organised, was in Basle, 29-31 August 1897. His fame as an intellectual helped draw attention to the project. Indeed the fact that Max Nordau, the trenchant essayist and journalist, was a Jew came as a revelation for many. Herzl obviously took centre stage, making the first speech at the Congress; Nordau followed him with an assessment of the Jewish condition in Europe. Nordau used statistics to paint a portrait of the dire straits of Eastern Jewry and also expressed his belief in the destiny of Jewish people as a democratic nation state, free of what he saw as the constraints of Emancipation.
Nordau's speeches to the World Zionist Congress reexamined the Jewish people, in particular stereo-types of the Jews. He fought against the tradition of seeing the Jews as merchants or business people, arguing that most modern financial innovations such as insurance had been invented by gentiles. He saw the Jewish people as having a unique gift for politics, a calling which they were unable to fulfil without their own nation-state. The World Zionist Organization [WZO] was founded as the Zionist Organization [ZO] on September 3, 1897, at the First Zionist Congress held in Basel, Switzerland. ...
Nordau died in Paris, France in 1923. In 1926 his remains were moved to Tel Aviv. The Eiffel Tower has become the symbol of Paris throughout the world. ...
1923 was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ...
1926 was a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ...
Tel-Aviv was founded on empty dunes north of the existing city of Jaffa. ...
See also - New Era Illustrated Magazine
- Basel Program
Theodor Herzl, in his middle age. ...
Time magazine, September 17, 1923 Israel Zangwill (February 14, 1864 - August 1, 1926) was a British-born Zionist and writer. ...
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