Fake zionist quotes 2: Herzl: “The anti-Semites shall be our best friend”.

“It is essential that the sufferings of Jews.. . become worse. . . this will assist in realization of our plans. . .I have an excellent idea. . . I shall induce anti-Semites to liquidate Jewish wealth. . . The anti-Semites will assist us thereby in that they will strengthen the persecution and oppression of Jews. The anti-Semites shall be our best friends”. (From his Diary, Part I, pp. 16)

This quote has spread like a wildfire on the internet, among antisemites and uncritical haters of Israel, but it is fake. It is a falsification.

The problem is that this quote has been used by “respectable” scholars too. Like in my homecountry, Sweden the former diplomat Ingmar Karlsson.

Lets dissect the quote

Lets look at the original text.

The incomplete 1922 edition of the diaries in german can be found on the internet. If you look at it you will find that the quote has been heavy edited, compared to the german text. But antisemites usually claim that the german edition 1922 has been edited and is a falsification, so lets stick to an english edition instead.

I am using the 1960 edition of the diaries. ( The complete diaries of  Theodor Herzl. Vol. 1 / edited by Raphael Patai ; translated by Harry Zohn ). On page 83-84 you can find the quote.

It begins with visions and fantasies that Herzl has had about the struggel for the right of the Jews.

One of my dreams during the period of uncertainty was to force Alois Lichtenstein, Schönerer or Lueger to a duel.

If I had been shot, a letter left behind by me would have told the world that I fell a victim to to this most unjust movement. Thus my death might at least have improved the heads and hearts of men. But if I had shot my opponent, I wanted to make a magnificent speech before the assize court, first expressing my regrets at “the death of an honorable man,” like Mores who had stabbed Captain Mayer to death.

Then I would have gone into the Jewish Question, making a powerful, Lassalle- like speech which would have shaken and moved the jury and inspired respect from the court, leading to my acquittal. Thereupon the Jews would have offered to make me a member of parliament. But I would have been obliged to decline that, because I did not want to become a representative of the people over the dead body of a human being. — And now I find that the anti-Semites are fully within their rights.

It would be an excellent idea to call in respectable, accredited anti-Semites as liquidators of property. To the people they would vouch for the fact that we do not wish to bring about the impoverishment of the countries that we leave. At first they must not be given large fees for this; otherwise we shall spoil our instruments and make them despicable as “stooges  of the Jews.

Later their fees will increase, and in the end we shall have only Gentile officials in the countries from which we have emigrated. The anti-Semites will become our most dependable friends, the anti-Semitic countries our allies.

As you can see, the quote I first mentioned is clearly false.

Here are two photos of the book:

(Via google you can see that the photographies are not manipulated.)

As you can see there are great differences between the Herzl quote first mentioned and the real quote. The beginning is manipulated and the text “will strengthen the persecution and oppression of Jews” has been inserted.

The use of a falsification

CThe falsified quote circulates all over the world as an evidence of the “evil” of the early sionists. It is used as a “proof” that the jews are behind the antisemitic movement. It often accompanies another falsifications the “protocols of the elders of Sion”. The first source of this quote that I have been able to trace is the antisemite Andrew Carrington Hitchcock. who did exactly that.

Here is one example of the use of the quote by one of the antisemites: (Source: http://www.erichufschmid.net)

If you want to see how authors who are not antisemites treat the correct quote by Herzl, look at this book by Isaiah Friedman.