Nordau, Max (Zidfeld, Simeon)

(1849-1923)

   Hungarian author and Zionist leader. He was born in Budapest. In 1880 he settled in Paris, where he practised as a doctor. In 1883 he published Conventional Lies of Our Civilization; this was followed by Paradoxes, The Malady of the Century and Degeneration. An associate of Theodor Herzl, he participated in all the Zionist congresses until 1911. Later he was a political counsellor to the president of the Zionist Organization, David Wolffsohn. After Wolffsohn's policy was rejected by the practical Zionists, Nordau joined the opposition circles within the Zionist movement, which worked against cultural Zionism advocated by, among others, Ahad ha-Am.