William Hechler

William Henry Hechler “Political Zionism , and the modern state of Israel , was largely born from the fierce will of Theodor Herzl . Were it not for a Christian, Herzl would have remained an eccentric, obscure Austrian writer, long forgotten by now." Reverend William Henry Hechler was born, January 10, 1845, in the Hindu “Holy” city of Benares , India to a German Anglican missionary father, Dietrich Hechler and his English wife, Catherine Clive Palmer. William’s conservative education exposed him to Evangelical Restorationism. A central belief of Restorationism was that the “Second Coming of Jesus” would occur after the Jews were restored to Palestine . Hechler’s faith did not mandate the Jews had to convert before Restoration. It did lead him to a sincere interest in the welfare of Jews, Jewish concerns and in Palestine. Deeply distressed by Tsarist oppression of the Jews in the 1880’s, Hechler traveled into the Russian Pale of Settlement. In Russia , he met Leon Pinsker , the author of the early Zionist tract, Auto-Emancipation which called for Jewish national separatism as a solution to the Jewish problem. 1893, Hechler self published his own broadsheet, "The Restoration of the Jews to Palestine according to the Prophecy". Hechler had projected that the days of the Jewish salvation would begin in 1897-1898. William Hechler was a volunteer German chaplain during the Franco-German war of 1870-71. He was twice decorated which put him in good regard for a position as the personal tutor to the son of Frederick I, the Grand Duke of Baden. Hechler became a close personal friend of the Grand Duke. It would be a relationship that would prove crucial for Zionism. Hechler, viewed as a pietistic eccentric by some because of his strong efforts for the Jews,was engaged in common eschatological (end of times) calculations. He studied the Bible diligently and projected a date when the return of Jesus would begin. His calculations suggested that the beginning of the Christian Messianic age would commence around 1896-1898. From 1885 to 1910, Reverend Hechler was the chaplain of Christ Church in Vienna, Austria and chaplain to the British Austrian embassy. March 1896, Hechler, browsing the book stalls of Vienna for newly published books, came across a copy of Theodor Herzl's, just released, "Der Judenstaat ," The Jewish State . Der Judenstaat was Herzl's solution to the two millennia old, anti-Semitic, Jewish Question . Herzl's solution, in a world he percieved as forever flawed by anti-Semitism, was for the Jews to return to Palestine, their ancient homeland. Palestine had been almost depopulated of Jews for nearly 1900 years after the Roman Empire 's conquest and Jewish expulsions. Herzl's idea for the Jewish reestablishment of a Jewish State (hence Political Zionism) corresponded with Hechler's timing for the Jewish return to begin. Hechler immediately went to Herzl offering his services. Herzl's book made an immediate, major impact on Jews worldwide. It did not have any practical impact because Herzl lacked an organization, and more importantly, major political backing to implement his ideas. He recognized that without political recognition, he would fail. (August, 1897, Herzl created the World Zionist Congress. It met in Basel,Switzerland. Herzl was elected the President.) Herzl wrote in his Diary of his meeting with Reverend Hechler. Then the Jews will believe in me and follow me. The most suitable personage would be the German Kaiser. ” Hechler, because of his friendship with the Grand Duke of Baden, was in a key position to change the course of history. Frederick I was heavily influenced by Hechler's eschatology and mysticism. Hechler arranged an interview for Herzl with the Grand Duke. The meeting was more successful for Herzl than his wildest dreams. The Grand Duke was sincerely impressed with Herzl and his solution to the "Jewish Problem." The Grand Duke became a life long supporter of Zionism. He immediately proceeded to bring Herzl and Zionism to the attention of his nephew, Kaiser Wilhelm II . Without recognition, support and protection of a major European power, Herzl's Political Zionism, was an empty hope. Hechler energetically set to work. He disseminated the news of Herzl and Zionism to the ecclesiastical community. He actively developed his contacts within the German Court, through the assistance of the Grand Duke, to bring Herzl before the Kaiser. Kaiser Wilhelm II was well informed of Herzl's efforts by his advisors Count Phillip Eulenburg (Hechler had been a tutor to Eulenburg's wife), and Prince Bernhard Von Bulow . The Kaiser was developing his strategy for the expansion of German influence in the Middle East as the Ottoman Empire tottered and decayed. Wilhelm II became an active believer in the concept of a Jewish State in Palestine under German protection for his own purposes. Germany would have a client Jewish State in the Eastern Mediterranean with a potential land link to India. Germany would express German economic power and dominance into a region that had been divided between the Ottomans and British control of the Suez Canal. Wilhelm II saw himself as a modern Cyrus the Great, with Biblical implications, Restoring the Jews. He also saw Germany accomplishing a much more immediate goal - he would rid Germany of its "excess" Jews. October 15, 1898, Kaiser Wilhelm II, met with Herzl in a private interview in Constantinople. In his one hour meeting with Herzl prior to the Kaiser's State meeting with Abdul ul Hamid II , Sultan of Turkey, the Kaiser asked Herzl: "Tell me in a word what I am to ask the Sultan? A Chartered Company – under German protection." Herzl responded. In return for a Jewish homeland, Herzl was proposing that the Jewish people would assume all the foreign debts of the Turkish government and pay an annual tribute. The Kaiser did approach the Sultan, twice, during their meetings in Constantinople. The Sultan refused to consider the Kaiser's intercession on behalf of Herzl or Zionism or the Jews. As a result of their meeting, before the Kaiser continued his "good will" mission to Palestine to dedicate a new church in Jerusalem, the Sultan ordered Ottoman officials to tighten the denial of Jewish immigration to Palestine. Herzl never learned that that Kaiser had failed. Continuing on to Palestine where Herzl would publically present the Zionist plan to the Kaiser, Herzl had a highly publicized, public meeting with the Kaiser at the Jewish agricultural settlement of Mikveh Israel. The public meeting and public recognition of Herzl by the Kaiser lasted only a few minutes. The roadside meeting was not formal. The Kaiser had stopped his horse to speak with Herzl and extended his hand in a public gesture of sincere concern. The effect of the Kaiser's public gesture to Herzl was electrifying to Jews. It affirmed to them Herzl's recognition by a major world power. It shifted world media perception of Zionism and Herzl from a fringe element to world legitimacy. A few days later in Jerusalem, November 2, 1898,the Zionist delegation, led by Herzl, formally presented their petition to the Kaiser. The public presentation that Herzl had written and now read aloud had been edited by von Bulow reducing the involement of the German government with Herzl and Zionism to nothing. Herzl turned to his Hechler to try and find out what went wrong. Though Kaiser Wilhelm's support proved tenuous, fleeting and then abandoned, it was, never the less, the single most significant legitimizing public relations event that affirmed Herzl and his Zionism movement to the world. November, 18, 1898, the London Daily Mail, the largest and most influential newspaper in Great Britain wrote: “One of the most important results, if not the most important, of the Kaiser’s visit to Palestine is the immense impetus it has given to Zionism, the movement for the return of the Jews to Palestine. The gain to this cause is the greater since it is immediate, but perhaps more important still, is the wide political influence which this Imperial action is like to have.” Herzl had failed with the German government and the Sultan of Turkey to obtain a concession to establish a Jewish State. He had succeeded, because of Reverend Hechler, to obtain public legitimization in the arena of Jewish and world public opinion. With the failure of the German effort, Herzl turned to Great Britain to seek international support for the Zionist movement. Utilizing Hechler again, Herzl attempted to gain entry to the British Court and British Government. Hechler's contacts in Great Britain were significantly inferior to what they were in Germany. Hechler never succeeded in advancing Herzl or Zionism in Great Britain much beyond the increasing inroads he was making in the British ecclesiastical community. Hechler remained a close confidant, friend and advisor to Herzl until Herzl's premature death, July 3, 1904. A day before, Hechler was the last non-family member to be with Herzl, prior to his death. Hechler was to report Herzl's last words to the public. I gave my hearts blood for my people." Before his death, Herzl asked that Hechler, the man Herzl called the "first Christian Zionist", be remembered by the Zionist movement and honored for all that he had done for the Jewish people. Hechler retired from his position at the British embassy, 1910. He was sixty -five years old. The new British Ambassador resented his theistic and mystical approaches. From 1910 to his death in 1931 he did not have a major role in Zionist history. He traveled one more time to Palestine, 1911, before returning to Britain where he continued to spread the "word" as best as he could. In the 1920's he received a modest pension from the Zionist Federation in London. The last years of his life he worked at the Mildmay Hospital in Islington, outside of London in a minor clerical position. He was alone, impoverished. He had been long divorced and estranged from his children. Hechler was buried in London in an unmarked grave. In 1934, the Viennese Jewish community discussed erecting a statue in his honor. The dark clouds of the Holocaust were already gathering and it was never done. Before he died, Hechler had warned that a terrible calamity would befall the Jewish people if the Jewish State was not created. Hechler worked behind the scenes arranging diplomatic breakthroughs to the German Imperial court, tje German aristocracy and later within the British Royal family for Herzl and Zionism. He labored continually amongst Christians, spreading the message of Herzlian Zionism. Though never as successful with the British as he had been with the Germans, it was Reverend William Hechler who significantly aided the creation of the atmosphere of political legitimacy for Herzl that would eventually lead to the creation of the modern State of Israel.¹