Photo of Max Nordau

Besides the charismatic personality of Herzl, Max Nordau played a prominent role in the rapid successes of the Zionist movement. Nordau was born in Pest as Miksa Südfeld. In 1880 he settled permanently in Paris, and in addition to his medical practice, he gained international fame as a writer, journalist, and an art critic. He met Theodor Herzl at the beginning of the 1890s. Under the influence of Herzl, he became a passionate devotee of the Jewish nationalist ideology and a highly respected leader in the movement.