Theodor Binyamin Ze'ev Herzl is considered the father of Zionism and revered in the state of Israel. The story of his life is something which was not made public and not many know that the entire family perished and nothing remains of them today. For decades, this information was deliberately suppressed and hidden from public.
Theodor Binyamin Ze'ev Herzl and his Sister:
He was born in Eastern Budapest on the 2nd of May 1860 to a middle class Jewish family.
He had an older Sister, Pauline Herzl who was a year older than him. She died mysteriously on the 7th of February 1878 and the cause of death is contradictory and explained in multiple ways.
This had a tragic impact on the family and they moved to Vienna. Theodore must have been around 18 years old at that time.
Theodor Binyamin Ze'ev Herzl and the 13 year old Magda
In 1886, the 26 year old Theodor Herzl wrote in his diary about falling in love with a 13 year old Magda. He was so madly in love with the 13 year old that he was willing to wait to get married.
Theodor Binyamin Ze'ev Herzl and Julie (Julianna) Herzl (Naschauer)
26 year old Theodor Herzl was jobless, looking to make his mark on the world. He meets Julianna Naschauer and the two end up marrying in 1889. This gives him access to large sums of money and power but remains one of most unhappy marriages as acknowledged by Jewish historians.
Theodor Binyamin Ze'ev Herzl dies in 1904
He dies of complications from a heart condition on the 3rd of July 1904 at Edlach. His body remains buried there from 1904 until 1949 when it is moved to Israel.
Julie Herzl (wife) dies in 1907 as a Drug Addict
3 years later she also dies of drug addiction and mental illness. Her son Hans forgot the ashes on the train so there is no sign of her body or her ashes today.
Hans Herzl (son) Shoots himself
The only son of Theodore Herzl converted to various denominations of Christianity was also addicted to drugs and suffered from mental health issues until he shot himself in 1930 at the day of his Sister’s funeral.
Theodore Herzl had dreamed of making his son the "Prince of the Zionist Kingdom".
Paulina Herzl (daughter) Heroine Addict, Kills herself!
Paulina was a drug addict from a very young age. Paulina, like her mother, was addicted to drugs and suffered from mental illness. She was in and out of mental institutions. She died in Bordeaux in 1930. She apparently died of a drug overdose. It is not clear whether she committed suicide. She was in her thirties and unmarried.
Margarethe (Trude) Herzl (daughter) Killed in a concentration Camp
Trude also suffered from mental illness throughout her life. She tried to have a relationship with Richard Neumann, 27 years her senior, whom she eventually married. They had a son, Stephen, and separated a few months later. Like her mother and her sister Paulina, Trude was also in and out of sanatoria. Six years later, Richard, her husband, took her to Paris. This fulfilment of her lifelong dream did not improve their relationship. They went back to Vienna. In the late 1930s, she was back in a mental institution. She wrote letters to the Pope, Churchill and Hitler admonishing them to do something about the approaching war. When the Nazis occupied Austria, they ordered that all Jewish hospital patients be transferred to Jewish hospitals. A year later, the Nazis closed these Jewish hospitals, and Trude was transferred to Steinhof, a public hospital. In 1942, she was put on a train to Theresenstadt, a Nazi concentration camp, where she died at the age of 50.
Stephan Theodor Neumann (Norman) (Grandson) committed suicide
The teenage Stephan left Vienna after the Anschluss and the open welcome of Nazism in Vienna, most of Austria's Jews were exterminated. Stephan aarived in England.
It was wartime in 1939. German names were not recommended. Stephan, like many other German/Austrian Jewish refugees, anglicized his name. Stephan anglicized his name. Stephan became Stephen. Theodor became Theodore and Neumann became Norman. He would forever be known as Stephen Theodore Norman.
Stephen graduated from officer training school an officer of the British Royal Artillery. He was assigned to duty in India and Ceylon. He rose to the rank of Captain of the Royal Artillery. He also lost contact with his parents and family, as had many other Jews. He feared the worst yet he remained hopeful that somehow their fate would not be as terrible as others. He hoped they would survive the war somehow. Captain Norman served honorably. The war ended and he like many others was being drawn back to England for discharge. It was late 1945. Passing through the Middle East, he had the opportunity to take a small detour to Israel. He liked what he saw so become an ardent supporter of Zionism.
Stephen returned to England for a few months of advanced training with the British Commonwealth's Scientific Office. He was posted to the British Embassy in Washington in the summer of 1946. He lived alone in Washington and did not form any deep associations, except with Dr. Eliahu Elath, head of the Jewish Agency in Washington. Dr. Elath knew who he was, the last descendent of Theodor Herzl.
It was during this period that Stephen contacted his family servant and nanny, Wuth, in Vienna to try and learn the fate of his parents.
Upon learning of the fate of his parents, he walked over to the Charles C. Glover Memorial Bridge on the 26th of November 1946 and killed himself. After 61 years of being buried in Washington, on the 5th of December 2007 his body was moved to Israel.
