This political movement has as its goal the empowerment of the Jews through a return of the Jewish people to their ancestral homeland. The name of the movement is derived from the word “Zion,” which refers to a mountain near Jerusalem. The official beginnings of Zionism can be traced back to the nationalistic stirrings of nineteenth-century Europe, coupled with the rise of modern anti-Semitism, which resulted in increasing persecution of the Jews of Europe as the century progressed. Theodor Herzl (18601904), the founder of political Zionism, was a journalist, playwright, and essayist from an assimilated Austrian Jewish family. The founding of the movement was heralded both by the publication of his most famous work, Der Judenstaat (The Jewish State), in 1896 and the convening of the First Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland, in 1897.
Taking its cue from Herzl, who was keenly aware of the importance of publicity, the Zionist movement initiated a number of political, cultural, and educational campaigns. Intent on regaining the ancestral homeland of the Jews, Herzl sought to unify European Jewry through a distinct secular nationalistic vision, namely, that of a “New Jewish Man” returning to the soil as a farmer and bringing about the uplifting of Palestine through the revival of the Hebrew language and Hebrew culture. Zionism benefited from the communications revolution of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, which witnessed the proliferation of inexpensive printing methods and, later, the appearance of film and radio to convey its message to a worldwide Jewish audience. Ironically, Zionist propaganda— which, prior to 1933, had emphasized an agrarian future for the Jewish people—was directed at and achieved its greatest following among an urban, assimilated, middle-class Jewish audience.
Herzl himself was presented as the archetype of the “New Jew” that Zionism sought to create through art and literature. Herzl and the Zionists were pioneers in the use of visual images. Indeed, Herzl believed that it was crucial for people to “think in images,” which provided the primary motivation for action. As a journalist Herzl recognized the powerful symbolic impact of music, as well as other cultural activities, on an educated middleclass. The earliest publicity material of Herzl-ian Zionism consisted of a series of postcards and delegates’ cards produced in conjunction with the First Zionist Congress. Although crude by later standards, these items helped introduce the pantheon of Zionist heroes to a wide audience, notably Herzl and Max Nor-dau (1849-1923), who formed the mainstay of Zionist imagery through World War I. After 1918 a new set of iconic figures emerged in the persons of Chaim Weizmann (1874-1952) and Albert Einstein (18791955), among others. The latter, in particular, became one of the most popular speakers at Zionist rallies.
In addition to championing these heroes, Zionism promoted the development of the “Muscular Jew.” Taking its cue from the late-nineteenth-century mania for physical prowess and its perceived link to moral fitness, Zionist organizations promoted Jewish gymnasiums. In the wake of the creation of the modern Olympics in 1896, the World Zionist Organization (WZO) established the Maccabiah Games, named after the heroic figures of the biblical story of the Maccabees. These games were seen as a means of promoting physical development to meet the challenges of rebuilding a Jewish homeland. Maccabean organizations were established throughout Europe and the United States. The Maccabiah Games are still held every four years in Israel.
In 1901 Keren Kayemeth Leisrael (Jewish National Fund, or JNF) was established to finance the purchase of land in Palestine and to sponsor the redevelopment of the area. The JNF sold shares, issued stamps, and created souvenirs (such as tin boxes to collect money) using a variety of agrarian images as backdrops. The most successful and enduring of these campaigns—which continues to this day—is the reforestation of land through the sale of trees as memorials. A poster campaign begun in the aftermath of World War I showed the growth of Palestine (Israel after 1948) by emphasizing the collective agricultural movement known as the kibbutz.
Zionist organizations were slow to develop film as a propaganda medium, in part because of a shortage of funds. The most prominent example of pre-World War II Zionist film propaganda was Land of Promise, commissioned by the JNF and the Palestine Foundation Fund and premiered in Europe and the United States in 1935. Although not the first Zionist film, it was unique for its length (nearly an hour) and its imagery, which presented Palestine not merely as an agrarian center but a developing country where industry and intellectual life flourished. Shown in Nazi Germany the same year the infamous Nuremberg Laws were promulgated, the film reflected the new image of Palestine as a refuge for Jews facing the rising tide of Fascism. The film also reflected a relatively new campaign by Zionist organizations, namely, the promotion of tourism to Palestine. Through posters, postcards, and other ready-made souvenirs, it was marketed as a “must see” destination for assimilated Western Jews who had little or no intention of settling there. Although interrupted by World War II, the tourism industry became a mainstay of the emerging Israeli economy.
In the aftermath of World War II, Zionist propaganda continued to emphasize Palestine/Israel as a place of refuge for persecuted Jews. Although following 1948 the most prominent publicity has been that of the JNF, in the 1960s and 1970s many Zionist and pro-Zionist organizations became involved in the Movement for Soviet Jewry. The message “Never Again,” a reference to the Holocaust, became a prominent part of the movement and appeared on posters, leaflets, and in a number of films. No longer emphasizing the agrarian vision of a “New Jew,” the post-1945 Zionist message focused on Israel as a place where Jews are empowered by statehood. Zionist publicity achieved remarkable success in the aftermath of the Six-Day War (June 1967), when immigration to Israel (known as Aliyah in Hebrew) increased dramatically.
